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THE 



GREELEY RECORD: 



SHOWING 



The Opinions and Sentiments 



OP 



HORACE GREELEY 



ON 



O^^ce Seeking — The Presidency — The Bemocratic Party — 
Prominent Democrats^ North and South — Secession and 
Secessionists — War and Peace — Jefferson Davis 
as President and Prisoner — Finance — 
Jfourierism — Temperance — Social Re- 
form — Naturalized Citizens — 
other Public Topics — 
and Himself. 



"Oh! that i-6cord is lively in my soul." — Shakespeare. 



PUBLISHED BT THE 

Union Republican Congressional Executive Committee. 

washington, d. c. 
1872. 



/ 



o 



THE COMPILER TO THE EEADEE. 



'" I have made frequent aua copious citations from letters, speeches, 
messages, and other documents, many of which have not the merit of 
rarity ; mainly because I could only thus present the views of political 
antagonists in terms which they must recognize and respect as authentic. 
In an age of passionate controversy few are capable even of stating an 
opponent's position in language that he will admit to be accurate and 
fair. And there are' thousands who cannot realize that they ever held 
opinions and accepted dogmas to which they unhesitatingly subscribed 
less than ten years ago." — Horace Greeley, m the ^^ American Confiict^'' 
page 9. / 

" To-day, the history of our country is found recorded in the columns 
of her journals more fully, promptly, vividly than elsewhere. More and 
more is this becoming the case with other countries throughout the civil- 
ized world. A history which takes no account of what was said by the 
Press in memorable emergencies befits an earlier age than ours. — Horace 
Greeley, in the "Aniericaji Conjiict^'' jpage 10. 

" Which being taught, return to plague the inventor." — Shakespeare. 



Printed by Gibson Brotiiers, Washington, D. C, 



WHAT HORACE GREELEt KNOWS 

ABOUT 

Politics — Office-Seeking — His own Continued Desire for Place — His 

oion Disappointments and Revenges — Journalists who Crave 

Political Rewards — Running for President — The 

Liberal Republican Movement at Cincinnati — 

Derriocratic Intrigues^ c&c, &c., &c. 



Why H. G. Became a Politician in Ms Childhood. 

"An eager, omhiverous reader, especially of newspapers, from early childhood, I was an 
ardent politiciaa when not half old enough to vote." — Recollections of a Busy Life. 



What H. G. Knows about Office- Seeking Politicians. 

" Incredible as it might seem, the fact is but too apparent, that tliere are men who aspire to 
be called Statesmen, wliose love of country and regard for justice and truth are subordinate to 
their desire for political promotion and the ' loaves and fishes ' of office, and who do 
not scruple to put in jeopardy the Peace of the World, if they thereby promote their selfish and 
personal ends." — Tribune, March 10, 1846. 

What H. G. Knows about Editorial Candidates. 

" It seems to us unwise in an Editor ever to allow his name to go before the public as a can- 
didate for any party nomination. It is such an appalling consideration, that running for a 
prominent office puts you under obligation to so many thousand people, who feel that your 
gratitude can never equal their deserts, that we think an Editor, who is already indebted to so 
many thousands for taking his paper and inducing others to take it, should never voluntarily 
incur a further obligation. Life is too short for the discharge of such mountains of debt, and it 
were better to avoid contracting them.'' — Tribune, Augusts, 1853. 



What H. G. Knows about greediness for Place and for Political Office. 

"It is indolence — rather indolence than avarice ; indolence of mind, more than of body — that 
makes the world so greedy in our day for place, and for political office." — Lecture, 1858. 



What H. G. Knew in lSo4: about His contimtous but unsuccessful aspirations for 

office since 1838, showing that in His opinion His running would have 

helped the ticket, and Helped His Paper. 

New York, Saturday Evening, Nov. 11, 1854, 
Got. Sbwakd : The election is over, and its results sufficiently ascertained. It seems to me a 
fitting time to announce to you the'dissolution of the political firm of Seward, Weed, and 
Greeley, by the withdrawal of the junior partner — said withdrawal to take effect on the morn- 
ing after the first Tuesday in February next. And, as it may seem a great presumption in me 
to assume that any such firm exists, especially since the public was advised, rather more than a 
year ago, by an editorial rescript in The Evening Journal formally reading me out of the Whig 
party, that I was esteemed no longer either useful or ornamental in the concern, you will, I am 
Bure, indulge me in some reminiscences which seem to befit the occasion. 

I was a poor young printer and Editor of a Literary Journal — a very active and bitter Whig 
in a small way, but not seeking to be known out of my own Ward Committee — when, after the 
^reat Political Revulsion of 1837, I was one day called to the City Hotel, where two strangers 
introduced themselves as Thurlow Weed and Lewis Benedict, of Albany. They told me that a 
cheap Campaign Paper of a peculiar stamp at Albany had been resolved on, and that I had beea 
selected to edit it. The annouhcement might well be deemed flattering by one who had never 
even sought the notice of the great, and who was not known as a partisan writer ; and I eagerlj 
embraced their proposal. They asked me to fix my salary for the year ; I named $1,000, which 



2 What Horace Greeley Knows 

they agreed to ; and I did the work required, to the best of ray ability. It was work that mad( 
no figure, and created no sensation ; but I loved it., and I did it well. When it was done, you 
were Governor, dispensing oflSces worth $3,000 to $20,000 per year to your friends and com- 
patriots, and I returned to my garret and my crust, and my desperate battle with .ppcuaiBry 
obligations heaped upon me by bad partners in business and the disastrous events of 1837. I 
believe it did not then occur to me that sonvi one of these abundant places might haue been offered 
to me without injustice ; I now think it should have occurred to you. If it did occur to me, I was 
not the man to ask you for it; I think that should not have been necessary. I only remember 
that no friend at Albany inquired as to my pecuniary circumstances ; that ycur friend, (but not 
mine,) Robert C. Wetmore, was one of the chief dispensers of your patronage here ; and that 
such devoted compatriots as A. H. Wells and John Hooks were lifted by you out of pauperism 
into independence, as I am glad I was not ; and yet an inquiry from you as to my needs and 
means at that day would have been timely, and held ever in grateful remembrance. 

In the Harrison campaign of 1840, I was again designated to edit a campaign papnr. I pub- 
lished it as well, and ought to have made something by it, in spite of its extremely low price; 
raj extreme poverty was the main reason why I did not. It compelled me to hire presswork, 
mailing, &c , done by the job, and high charges for extra work nearly eat me up. At the close 
I was still without property and in debt ; but ibis paper had rather improved my [)i)Sition. 

Now came the great scramble of the swell mob of coon minstrds and cidur suckers at Wash- 
ington, — I not being counted in. Several regiments of them went on from this city, but no one 
of the whole crowd — though I say it, who should not— «-had done so much towards Gen. Harri- 
son's nomination and election as yours respectfully. I asked nothing, expected nothing; but 
you, Gov. Seward, ought to have asked that 1 be Postmaster of N'aw York. Y"our asking would 
have been in vain, but it would have been an act of grace neither wasted nor undeserved. 

I soon after started The Tribune, because I was urged to do so by certain of your friends, and 
because such a paper was needed here. I was promised certain peimniary aid in so doing; it 
might have been given me without cost or risk to anyone. Ail I ever had was a loaa by piece- 
meal of $1,000 from James Coggeshall, God bless his honored memory ! I did not ask for this, 
and I think it is the one sole case in which I ever received a pecuniary favor from a political 
associate. I am very thankful that he did not die till it was fully repaid. 

And here let me honor one grateful recollection. When the Whig part}"- under your rule had 
OfiSces to give, my name was never thought of ; but when in 1842-43 we were hopelessly out of 
power, I was honored with the party nomination for State Printer. When we came again to 
have a State Printer to elect as well as nominate, the place went to Weed, as it ought. Yet it 
is worth something to know, that there was once a time when it w-is not deemed too great a 
sacrifice to recognize me as belonging to your household. If a new ofBce had not since been 
created on purpose to give its valuable patronage to EI. J. Raymond, and enable St. John to 
show forth his Times as the organ of the Whig State Administration, I should have been still 
more grateful. 

In 1843 your star again arose, and my warmest hopes were realized in your election to the 
Senate. I was no longer needy, and had no more claim than desire to be recognized by Gen. 
Taylor. I think I had some claim to forbearance from you. What I received tliereupon was a 
most humiliating lecture, in the shape of a decision in the libel case of Redfield and Pringle, 
and an obligation to publish it in my own and the other journal of our supposed firm. I 
thought, and still think, this lecture needlessly cruel and mortifying. The plaintiffs, after using 
my columns to the extent of their needs or desires, stopped writing, and called on me for the 
name of their assailant. I proffered it to them, — a thoroughly responsible name. They refused 
to accept it, unless it should prove to be one of the four or five first men in Batavia ! — when 
they had known from the first who it was, and that it was neither of them. They would not 
accept that which they had demanded ; they sued me instead for money ; and money you were 
at liberty to give them to your heart's content. I do not think you were at liberty to humil- 
iate me in the eyes of my own and your public as you did. I think you exalted your own 
judicial sternness and fearlessness unduly at my expense. I think )'ou had a better occasion 
for the display of these qualities when Webb threw himself untimely upon you for a pardon, 
which he had done all a man could do to demerit. (His paper is paying you for it now.) 

I have publicly set forth my view of your and our duty with respect to Fusion, Nebraska, 
and party designations. I will not repeat any of that. I have referred also to Weed's reading 
me out of the Whig party — my crime being in this, as in some other things, that of doing to- 
day what more politic persons will not be ready to do till to-morrow. 

Let me .speak of the late canvass. I was once sent to Congress for ninety days, merely to en- 
able Jim Brooks to secufe a seat therein for four years. I think 1 never hinted to any human be- 
ing that I would have liked to be put forward for any place. But James W. White (jou hardly 
know how good and true a man he is) started my name for Congress, and Brooks's packed del- 
egation thought I could help him through, so I was put on behind him. But this last SpriJig, 
after the Nebraska question had created a new state of things at the North, one or two personal 
friends, of no political consideration, suggested my name as a candidate for Governor, and I 
did not discourage them. Soon, the persons who were afterward mainly instrumental in nomi- 
nating Clark cane about me, and asked if I could secure the Know-Nothing vote. I told them 
I neither could nor would touch it ; on the contrary, I loathed and repelled it. Thereupon, the/ 
turned upon Clark. 



About • Politics and the Presidency. 3 

I said nothing, did nothing. A hundre i people asked me who should be run for Governor. 
I sometimes indicated Patterson ; I never hinted at my own name. Butby-and-by, Weed cama 
down and called rae to him, to tell me why he could not support me for Governor. (I had never 
asked nor counted on bis support.) 

1 am sure Weed did not mean to luirailiate rae, but he did it. The upshot of his discourse 
(very cautiously stated) was this: If I were a candidate for Governor, I should beat not myself 
only, but you. Perhaps that was true. But, as I had in no manner Solicited his or your sup- 

f.ort, I thouirht this might have been said to ray friends, rather than to me. I suspect it is trua 
hat I could not have been elected Governor as a Whig. But had he and you been favorable, 
there would have been a party in the State, ere this, which could and would have elected me to 
Any post, without injuring myself or endangering your re-election. 

it was in vain tiiat 1 urged that I had in no manner asked a nomination. At length I was 
nettled by his language — well intended, but very cutting, as addresed by him to me — to say, la 
substance, "Well, then, make Patterson Governor, and try mi/ name for Lieule?ianf. To loso 
this place is a matter of no imjiortance, and we can see whether I am really so odious." 

I should have hated to serve as Lieutenant-Governor, but I should have gloried in running 
for the post. I want to have ray enemfes all upon rae at once — I am tired of fighting them piece- 
meai. And, although I should have been beaten in the canvass, I know that ray running would 
have helped the ticket and HELPED MY PAPER. 

It was thought best to let the matter take another course. No other name could have been 
put upon the ticket so bitterly humbling to me as that which was selected. The nomination 
was given to Raymond — the fight left to me. And, Governor Seward, 1 have madeit, though it 
be conceited in me to say so. What little fight there has been, I have stirred up. Even Weed 
has not been (I speak of his paper) hearty in this contest, while the journal of the Whi;^ Lieu- 
tenant-Governor has taken care of its own interests and let the canvass take care of itself, as it 
early declared it would do. That journal has (because of its milk and water course) some 
twenty thousand subscribers in this city and its suburbs; and of these twenty thousand, I ven- 
ture to say, more voted for Ullminn and Scroggs than for Clark and Raymond. The Tribunb 
(also because of its character) has but eight thousand subscribers within the same radius ; and 
I venture to sny that, of its habitual readers, nine-tenths voted for Clark and Raymond, very 
few for Ullinann and Scroggs. I had to bear the brunt of the contest, and take a terrible 
respousibilitj-, in order to prevent the Whigs utiiting upon James W. Barker, in order to 
defeat Fernando Wood.* Had Barker been elected here, neither you nor I could walk these 
streets without being hooted, and Know-Nothingism would have swept like a prairie fire. I 
stopped Barker's election at the cost of incurring the deadliest enmity of the defeated gang, 
and 1 have been rebuked for it by the Lieutenant-Governor's paper. At the critical moment, 
he came out against John Wheeler in favor of Charles H. Marshall, (who would have been your 
deadliest enemy in the House;) and even your Colonel-General's paper, which was even with 
me in insisting that Wheeler should be returned, wheeled about at the last moment, and went 
in for Marshall, The Tribune alone clinging to Wheeler to the last. I rejoice that they who . 
turned so suddenly were not able to turn all their readers. 

Governor Seward, I know that some of your most cherished friends think me a great obstacla 
to your advancement — -that John Schoolcraft, for one, insists that you and Weed shall not be 
identified with me. I trust, after a time, you will not be. I trust 1 shall never be found in op- 
position to you. I have no farther wish but to glide out of the newspaper world as quietly and 
as speedily as possible, join my family in Europe, and, if possible, stay there quiteatime — long 
enough to cool my fevered brain and renovate my overtasked energies. All I ask is that we 
shall be counted even on the morning after the first Tuesday in February, as aforesaid, and that 
I may.. thereafter take such course as seems best, without reference to the past. 

You have done me acts of valued kindness in the line of your firofession — let me close with 
the assurance that these will ever be gratefully remembered by 

Yours, HORACE GREELEY. 

Hon. Wm. H. Seward, present. 

What H. G. Knoivs about Editors whose vanity leads them to chase after office. 

" No doubt that occasional avidity with which members of the editorial profession are seen t» 
pursue the loaves and fishes of ofiSce, is fostered by the too general desire to live by other means 
than honest work. Men easily talce up ideas and tendencies which prevail around them; and' 
where thousands of all avocations engage in the disgusting scramble, it is not surprising that 
here and there a journalist should be mingled with the crowd. But more frequently the desire 
for place is begotten in members of our profession from that superstitious respect for political 
position and dignity which has come down from darker times and obsolete forms of society. 
When there was no avenue to power, distinction and eminent usefulness, except through pre- 
ferment in Church or State, generous and ambitious spirits naturally became priests or politi- 
cians ; and then, out of the sacred office, the holder of a political post was the great man ia 
fact and in public regard. But now this is all changed. Government in this country has sunk 
to be a subordinate agency, and statesmen are but clerks to register and execute the decrees of 



* H. G. here admits having aided the election of Fernando Wood. 



What Horace Gi'eeley Ejnows 



the people. Of that people the Press is the iastrnctor, organ, and plenipotentiary. Wielding, 
directing, and in^iring the supreme power of Public Opinion, it governs Governoi's, legislates 
for Legislators, and judges Courts. Thus, in our view, it discharges more important and ele- 
vated functions than either of those branches of the social mechanism, and should be respected 
by its members accordingly. But all of ihem do not so understand it ; all are not emancipated 
from the old political traditions ; and, besides, it must be confessed that a merely selfish and 
.egotistical ambition may find a more conspicuous satisfaction in a lower sphere. The journal- 
ist, after all, discharges a somewhat impersonal service; his newspaper may be known by hia 
name, but he is necessarily associated with many other writers; and individual vanity never 
reaps a full harvest, however brilliant or powerful the newspaper may be.- Accordingly, when 
we see a journalist abandoning his proper duty to chase after office, we may take it as a con- 
fession that he does not feel himself at home in the nobler profession and accordiugly resorts to 
the inferior one." — Tribune, April 21, 1855. 



Sow H. G. recommended himself to the administration as a friend of Clay who 

had denounced him, and advocated the Election of Harrison. 

New Yoke, Feb. 9, 1841. 
"Col. C. S. Todd: 

"My Dear Sir: I can claim no personal acquaintance with you ; yet I think you will have 
heard of me as the Editor of The Loij Cabin, a.nd as implicated in various Political efforts be- 
fore, at and after the Harrisburg Convention. I take the great liberty of writing to you be- 
cause I have no personal acquaintance or intercourse with Gen. Harrison, and have not yet 
heard that any of my Ohio acquaintances have come on to Washington." * * * * 
"I am one of the original, ardent friends of Mr. Clay, who, after the result of the Virginia 
Election in April, 1839, were driven to the conclusion that Mr. Clay must not be our candidate 
in 1840, unless loe were bent on rushing to ruin. In Juna and July, 1839, / traveled through this 
State, Northern Ohio, Michigan, and home throiigh Pennsylvania, PREACHtNO this Doctrine." 



What H. G. Knows about John Ti/ler's coquetting with the Democrats, and what 

he admits to have done to aid him. 

" I was the correspondent of the Madisonian before the Tyler apostacy, and for some time 
after the Bank Vetoes." * ® * " I visited Washington, per invitation, in December, 1841, 
upon assurances that John Tyler and his advisers we-e disposed to return to the Whig party, 
and that I could be of service iu bringing about a complete reconciliation between the Admin- 
istration and the Whigs in Congress and in the country. I never proposed to connect myself 
with the cause of the Administration but upon the understanding that it should be heartily 
and faithfully a Whig Administration. I did write an article containing something about 
'nine steps out of twelve,' referring directly and solely to the desired reconciliation between 
Mr. Tyler and fhe Whigs. I remember nothing of the use made of that article by .Mr. Arnold 
afterwards, and of course am not responsible for that use. And finally I declined, utterly and 
absolutely, to connect myself with the cause of the Administration the moment I became satis- 
fied, as I did during that visit, that the Chief of the Government did not desire a reconcilia- 
tion, upon the basis of sustaining Whig principles and Whig measures, with the party ho had 
BO deeply wronged, but was treacherously coquetting with Loco-Focoism, and fooled with the 
idea of a re-election." — Tribune, June 29, 1843. 



What H. G. Knoios would have elected Henry Clay and Helped his Paper. 

" Looking back through almost a quarter of a century on that Clay canvass of 1844, I say 
deliberately that it should not have been lost — that it need not have been. I, for example, was 
in the very prime of life — thirty-three years old — and knew how to write for a newspaper ; 
and I printed in that canvass one of the most effective daily political journals ever yet issued. 
It was sold for two cents, and it had 15,000 daily subscribers when the canvass closed. It 
should have had 100,000 from the first day onward — and My Clay Tribune, a campaign weekly, 
issued six months for fifty cents — should have had not less tban a quarter of a million," — Rec- 
ollections of a Busy Life. 



What H. G. Knows about a Soldier- President. 

" I think I never saw General Taylor save for a moment at the Inauguration Ball, on the night 
after his accession to the Presidency. I was never introduced, and never wrote to him ; and, 
while I ultimately supported and voted fbrhim, I did not hurry myself to secure his election. He 
was a man of little education or literary culture, but of signal good sense, coolness, and freedom 
from prejudice. Few trahied and polished statesmen have proveil filter depositaries of civil 
power than this rough soldier, whose life had been largely passed in camp and bivouac, on the 
rude outskirt of civilization, or in the savage wastes far beyond it. General Taylor died too 
Boon for his country's good, but not till he had proved himself a wise and good ruler, if not 
■even a great one." — Recollections of a Busy Life. 



About Politics and the Presidenci/. 5 

What IT. G. Knows about a Mx)i's ^' ReniQmhering his Friends^ 

"If aaybody is disposed to Kram'olci that ths President ordinarily chooses from his own side 
of the house, we beg leave to dissent. When he [Mr. Filhnora] was Vice-President, his word 
did not go far in the matter of appointments; now he is President, let him, to a liberal extent, 
remember his friends. This is a revolving planet, so that every one gets on the sunshiny sidd 
in hia turn. That is fair." — Tribune, October 2, 1850. 



What H. G. Knows about giving Political Victors the Spoils. 

" When the Whigs came into power, what did Jastica and the Public Good require of them ? 
Would it have been right to continue the monopoly of office by those who were nowa minority 
of the Peo[)le, and certainly could not claim any preponderance of capacity, integrity, or merit? 
How were we to ' proscribe Proscription?' Qy saying to its contrivers and authors : ' We con- 
cede yoa a monopoly of the offices forever ; you have them now, we shall continue them in your 
hands while wi have the power, and when you triumph again, you will have them, of course?' 
Will any man say that this was the proper course t j be taken? Would it not hive been a se- 
vere trial for poor Human Nature ? Possibly the Whigs might have so benefited the country by 
inevicably sacrificing themselves. But they chose rather to follow the precept and example of 
Mr. Jcfforson, who said, in substance, oncoming into office: ' I should have been satisfied had 
I found a part of the offices in the hand^ of the majority, but I find all monopolized for years 
by the Federalists, of whom few die, none resign: I shall, therefore, make changes.' "—Tribune. 



What H. G. Knows that he did, as a D^legafe from Oregon, to defeat Gov. Seward 

in the Chicago Convention. 

" It is grossly wratrue that at Chicago I comm'juded myself to the confidence of delegates ' by 
professions of regard and the most zealous friendship for Gov. Seward, but presented defeat, 
eysM I'rt iVfiiw For/c, as the inevitable result of his nomination.' " ® * * "This is exaclly 
what I did. When a New Yorker declared, in the open Hall of the Tremont House, that ' every- 
body admits that Gov. Seward is the leader and representative man of the Republican pirti/,' I 
as openly responded ' No, sir ; here is one who does not admit it. He is one of the leading men 
of our party; but there are others as deserving as he is,' or words to that effect. Hundreds 
heard this ; thousands heard me at all times and in all places repel the suggestion that Gov. 
Seward had or could have any special claims to the nomination." — Tribune, May 25, 1860. 



What H. G. Knew about preventing President Lincoln's re-election. 

"The practical question, then, is this : Has Mr. Lincoln proved so transcendently able and 
admirable a President that all consideration of the merits, abilities, and services of others should 
be postponed or forborne in favor of his re-eUjtion? This is a qiiest.ion whereon, pending the 
definite selection of our candidates, there should be the utmost freedom of opinion and expres- 
sion. We answer it iu the negative.' Heartily agreeing thit Mr. Lincoln has done well, we do 
not regard it as at all demonstrated that Gov. Chase, Gen. Fremont, Gen. Butler, or Gen. Grant 
cannot do as well. We freely admit Mr. Lincoln's merits, but we insist that they are not such 
as to eclipse and obscure those of all the statesmen and soldiers who have aided in the great 
work of saving the country from disruption and orevihrow."— Tribune, February 23, 1864; 



What S. G. Knew about the German opposition to President Lincoln's re-election. 

" Whoever has watched the movements now going on among the Liberal German citizens of 
the United States cannot have failed to see that there is am mg them a wlde-spreaii and powerful 
opposition to the re-election of President Lincoln. We need only to refer to some facts in the 
history of the past few months in order to p'ove that this opposition has assumed dimensions 
which cannot be ignored in the coming Presidential campiign. There are, of course, among 
the German population those whose first choice for the Presidency is President Lincoln. But a 
careful observation of the liberal German press and the German conventions and meetings for 
several montiis past leads us to believe that the opposition to President Lincoln's renomlnation 
not only prevails among the German Liberals to a large extent, but that a portion of the party 
would even refuse to vote for Mr. Lincoln if ho should be renominated by the National Nomina- 
ting Convention." — Tribune, Fubruary 21, 18G4. 



What H. G. Knew about Logalty to Partg in 1864. 

"Our general idea of the matter is this, that, until the choice of Union candidates for Presi- 
dent and Vice-President shall have been definitely made, the field is entirely open, and every 
Unionist is at perfect liberty to propose and advocate any Unionist who may be his inJivldual 
prtieience. One desires the renom' nation of the present incumbents; another woald renomi- 
nate the President, but not the Vice-President; a third would renominate the latter, but not 
the former; a fourth would present new candidates for both positions. Each Unionist, then, 



6 What Horace Greeley Knows 

is tnriied and encouraged to name the men of his choice, and to commend their nomination by 
adducina; such facts and arguments as to him shall seem co';:eut and effective, with a tacit under- 
standing'that we all say and do nothing that shall preclude a hearty and effective support of 
whatever ticket shall ultimately be presented. All who choose having spoken and been heard, 
the Convention assembles, gives heed to every representation, and finally decides as it shall 
deem best • and then we all' turn in and elect the ticket. Such is our idea of the way in which 
this matter should be dealt yvith."— 'Tribune, April 1, 1864. 



What H. G. Knew in 1868 about wanting to he President of the United States. 

•'Mr. Webster was not only a gentleman, but he had the elements of moral greatness, and h^ 
had faults as well. He failed only in one respect, and in this respect I differ from him— he 
wanted to be President and I don't. But for that one misfortune he would have been tho 
greatest man America ever produced. We have seen our greatest man, Air. Chase, making the 
same blunder. I have seen men who had the disease early and died of it at a very old age. 
General Lewis Cass died at about 82, and up to the day of his death he wanted to be President. 
No one ever escapes who once catches the disease; he lives and dies in the delusion. Being a 
reader and an observer at an early age, I saw how it poisoned and piiralyzed the very best of 
our public men, and I have carefully avoided it." — Horace Greeley's Speech at Quebec. 



What H. G. Knew in 1858 ahout the selection of a Presidential candidate. 

" There are probably five hundred to a thousand stirring, scheming, eager politicians in the 
country, each of whom is ambilious and hopeful of the honor, in whole or in part, of inventing 
the next President. The Tribdne has no candidate for President. To us, men are but instru- 
ments whereby principles may be commended and beneficent measures advanced. If there be 
any man who would desire our support for the Presidency in defiance of our convictions that 
another than he could probal)ly obtain more votes for our common cause, then that man is uii- 
worthv of such support. When the proper lime shall have arrived, we shall carefully survey 
the field, and fix on that man who, among all who are worthy and qualified, seems likely to 
secure the largest vote i?i behalf of our cherished principles. That man we shall support, unless 
and at all events until our choice is overruled in a National Republican Convention." — Tribune. 



What H. G. Knows about Sam. Bowles and other "Independent" Journalists. 
"That what styles itself an "independent" Journal is inevitably a fraud, we have long felt and 
known. The essence of its profession is an assumption of indifference to the ascendancy of this 
or the opposite party, which does not exist. In a free State, whereof the people are intelligent, 
no Joui;rtalist is or can be indifferent , and an affectation of impartiality necessarily cloaks som&. 
eelfish and sinister design. " — 2'n62me, January 3, 1871. 

What H. G. asserted about Himself and his Associates in the Tribune. 

"We don't believe any 'Tribune stockholders' were ever 'among the loudest and most of- 
fensive claimants for fat gun contracts,' nor for any contracts whatever; though, as any 
one may become a ' Tribune stockholder' who chooses to pay for a share of the stock, we cannot 
^eak positivelv. From the time of Mr. Lincoln's first nomination till this moment, the 
Editor of The Tribune has sought neither office, nor honors, nor contracts, nor emoluments of 
any kind, from the Federal Executive, nor from any of his subordinates, and has in no manner 
profited by their favor, unless the payment for public advertising in these columns is regarded 
as a favor." — Tribune, January 22, 1866. 

What H G. Advises Doubting and Treacherous Republicans to do. 

"The Republican party has suffered quite enough from those who wear its uniform in order to 
fire more effectually into its ranks. If you cannot support men of undoubted ability and good 
character who are its candidates, your hearts are elsewhere, and your legs should follow them. 
Choose your future position for yourselves, but let it be on one side or on the other." — Tribune, 
December 13, 18T0. 

What H. G.'s Opinions xoere about the coming Presidential Election. 
"The nomination of our candidate should be a matter of deliberate, dispassionate calculation. 
The delegations from those States in which the great battle is to be won or lost should be chosen 
from their most discreet, discerning, intelligent citizens, and should be above the suspicion of being 
any man's men. They should not expect to have the naming of candidates confided entirely to 
them ; l)ut they ought to have a veto on tljose selected by others. If New Jersey, Pennsylvania, 
Indiana, and Illinois should unitedly say, 'We cannot carry' this or that statesman, then an- 
other should be selected ; and he should be one of those whom these States, or a majority of 
them, believe they can carry. Wo have no moral right to brave the hazard of defeat in such a 
struggle as this in order to gratify any man's aspirations, or the partiality of his friends." — 
Tribune, December 31, 1859. 



About Politics and the Presidency. *l 

What H. G. Thinks about Personal Dislike to the Candidate of a Party. 
" We shall neither be tempted nor provoked to bandy epithets with those who seize the oppor- 
tunity afforded by the unwise and premature opening ot' the Presidential canvass to ventilate 
their bad manners, or gratify their ill-will by indulging in personal imputations and crimina- 
tions. Caring much more for the cause than for any laan, we have no shadow of objection to 
a free and friendly discussion of the respective merits of those who may, on one hand or the 
other, be suggested as Union candidates for next President." -r Tribune, March 1, 1864. 



What H. G.'s Estimate of the position of President is. 

"The President is becoming more and more an unimportant person, and the time will be 
when his office will be so curtailed of weight, that he will be suffered to accept or decline the 
compliment of drinks, to come and go, to travel almost unnoticed and unknown, except by a 
few beggarly ofHce-seeking fellows who would dog the steps of any one with a bone to throw to 
them. This absolute equality is a thing new to history, save in our own national case. Wash- 
ington as President exhibited a certain state, Jefferson broke it down ; and since his time, not- 
withstanding the dispensations within the gift of the President, and the miserable swarm of vermin 
Bceking to live at the public cost have increased, while the amount of money he controls is equal 
to all belonging to all the sovereigns of Europe a few years since, yet the importance of his sta- 
tus has dwindled so that it is deemed no breach .of decorum to accost him in every way like the 
simplest citizea ; and a volley of eggs at his head — the direst ruffianism of a personal assault- 
can call forth no further expressions of remark or regret than would attend the same violatioa 
of decency practised toward any other well-bred and respectable person. — Tribune, August 10, 
1854. 



How H. G. Suggested that he had never received the Degree of LL.D. 

The State P^egister will oblige us by contradicting the erroneous report that the Editor of the 
Tribune has been dubbed a Doctor of Laws. That is a title to which he never raide any pre- 
tensions. Had he been- declared a Doctor of Lawmakers, or even of lawyers, the report would 
have had far more plausibility. He may have attempted something in the waj' of doctoring 
our Capital Punishment, Land Monopoly, Liquor License, and othf-r such laws ; but it is most 
unlikely that any college would lavish valuable sheep-skin upon him on that account. The 
r€[)ort is evidently the " weak invention " of some joker, who wished to see how improbable a 
fiction might gain currency in the absence of contradiction. — Tribune, August 26, 1853. 



What H. G. Professed as his Devotion for Republican Principles. 

" The large mass of transcendental ascetics refuse to co-operate with the Republicans. They 
prefer to wasle their strength upon impalpable issues and impracticable leaders. But, just 
enough o' them claim fellowship with us to frighten the timid and mislead the credulous by 
crying ' Don't lower the standard !' whenever men quite as honest and a good deal wiser than 
themselves attempt so to conduct the pending Presidential contest that it will result in a glorious 
victory instead of a disastrous defeat. As for ourselves, so fond are we of Republican princi- 
ples that we eagerly desire to see them elevated to the most conspicuous positions in the land. 
So beneficent do we regard them, that we are exceedingly anxious to see them conirolliug the 
policy and shaping the destinies of the country. Through so man}- weary years, and sometimes 
almost dospairincfly, have we advocated them, that defeat in the present struggle would some- 
what shake our faith in human progress." — Tribune, August 8, 1859. 



Wliat H. G. Thought cured him of a desire for Executive Promotion. 

"Throughout the four years of Gov. Seward's Administration, but especially during hia 
first two winters, we spent much time in Albany, and had opportunities to see something of the 
troops of office-seekers who besieged the Executive Chamber. They were of all kinds — good, 
bad, and indifferent; but there was a far larger proportion of rapacity and unprincipled selfis'n- 
ness than they left behind them in the quiet, unaspiring people, into whoso service they coaxed, 
and bored, and wheedled, and blustered to be taken. We asked nothing, expected nothing, 
wished nothing, personally or for any of our kin : yet if we had been ambitious of Executive 
promotion, what we there saw of oEBce-seeking would have cared us forever." — Tribune, AprH 
30, 1845. 



What H. G. Thought of his Political Friends who secured the election of a 

Democrat. 

"Shout forth your joy Abolitionists 1 for gour efforts, your votes, have powerfully contributed 
to fasten on the Country a South Carolina dynasty, which recognizes a fortification and per- 
petuation of Slavery as one of the first objects of our Federal comp ict, and, to this end, the 
Annexauon of Texas to this country — no matter at what cost of unjust War, or broken Faith, 



8 What Horace Greeley Knows 

or douliled Taxes, or the world's intense scorn, as a chief object of our National Policy." — Tribune 
November 13, 1814. 



What H. G. Decided to do if the Cincinnati Convention did not endorse 

Protection. 

Certain Journals speculate on the probability that The TrUmne would support this or that 
candidate if nominated at Cincinnati. They have no data and no warrant for saying: that wa 
should object to any of the persons named. We have said that, if the Convention sliould see fit 
to place its candidate on a platform hostile to the Protection of Home Industry, it would thereby 
preclude our supporting them ; and yet we have not said that wo might not wisely do what 
would constrain us to oppose their candidates. If a majority of the American People want 
Free Trade they ought to have it, no matter though this or that individual be displeased thereat. 
In that case candidates who respond to the general aspiration can do without the support of this 
or that newspaper. We have only urged the Conveatioa to use language that unequivocally 
expresses its meaning ; if that meaning be Free Trade, let there be no mistake and no dispute 
about li.— Tribune, May 1, 1872 . 



WJiat H. G.'s Chicago Supporters said of his connection with Tammany. 

" A foolish concern at Chicago, which does its worst to disgrace the name of Tribune, thus 
airs its mulignity and mendacity : ' Divide and conquer is the policy of the Tammauy-Erie 
thieves toward the press of New York City. A formidable rebellion against the corruptions of 
Tammany has broken out in the Democratic party, and, for the first time in many years, there is 
an opportunity of accomplishing a reform with an assured prospect of success. One would think 
that The Tribune, which has pretended to follow honesty for a living, would rush to 
embrace this opportunity of overthrowing its seeming enemy in its own stronghold. But, in 
realitj'-, The New York Tribune has for a long time slept in the same trundlebed with the Tam- 
many gang, and shared their spoils and corporation advertising, to the great profit of the pub- 
lishing dejjartment, while the editorial department ventilated its virtue in very guarded expos- 
ures of the very small defects of the City government.' 

"Comment by the Tribune. What is the pretext for the above attack onus ? We can imagine 
none, unless it be our hesitation to indorse and commend those Democrats who are in hot pur- 
suit of the scalps of Sweeny, Tweed & Co., with fair prospects of success."— TVitewe, March 1, 
1870. 



What H. G. Thought in 1854 about National Conventions. 

"That National Conventions have already fallen into discredit with the People, there needs 
no ghogt from tlie grave to reveal : that they are destined to be condemned, proscribed, dis- 
carded, it needs no prophet to foresee. That they are substanlinlly gatherings of office-seekers, 
.mining and countermining to secure their own advancement respectively, is already xcrj gen- 
erally understood. We know it is not so generally apprehended that the strongest and worthiest 
men have hardly a chance in such a galherin'jc — that the weakest and least scrupulous aspirant 
stands by far the best chance of a nomination. To make a silk purse of a sow's ear is pro- 
verbially a difficult achievement — far more so than to stamp a piece of precious metal with the 
devices which simply declare its value, cre:iting none. Now the eager, needy politicians who 
form the stai)le of a National Convention are quite aware that t ho candidate whom they may 
make will, if chosen President, owe far more to them, and be liki^lv tO evince.a deeper gratitude, 
than one whom they, echoing I'v People's voice, simply proclaim. And besides, great men 
have convictions, prepossessions, a pa.;', and present some sharp curves and angles to the public 
observation : they are on the record as h \^in'r acted decisively and inflaentially at great epochs 
in the Nation^^s history : they can not so easily as the timid and obscure mediocrities be com- 
mended as having been on whichever side of a great sectional or other distracting question 
happens to be popular in the locality wliere the representation is made. So long as these Con- 
Tentions of spoil-hunters shall be permitted in effect to choose tsvo persons, of whom one must 
inevitably be the President, we must expect to have feeble, trimming Chief Magistrates at least 
three terms in four." — Tribune, January 7, 18.^4. 



What H. G. Knew about what lie might have accomplished in the Senate. 

Mr. Dana's opinion that I would have been a much more important personage and that my 
views would have exerted more inflaence had T throughout the last four years l)een in ofRce, is 
natural, perhaps, in one who has just descended from that lofiy eminence. For my own part, 
I cannot rmlize that my beino; in or out of the Senate would have made any serious difTcronce 
to the country or to me. I should doubtless, in any i>osiiion, have done what I could to secure 
the National renovation at the smallest ])ossible cost of blood and treasure. A life-long hater 
of War and lover of Peace, holdiu'i: that those involved in hostilities should repel no overture 
that promises an honorable and sale adjustment of differences, I might not have rudely repelled, 
though I certainly should not have invoked, the good offices even of Louis Napoleon. — Tribune, 
September 4, 1865. 



About Politics and the Presidency. 9 

What H. G. Knew in 1870 about the Free Trade Workers. 

"Every Republican Journal or speaker who decries Protection is recognized by tlie Oemocrats 
as making votes for their next Presidential ticket. Every eraiuissary of the Free Trade League 
is just as venomous against the President and the Repuhlicans as he can venture to be without 
disi)laying too boldly the cloven foot of the great original Secessionist and Democrat. He who 
does not see whereto all this tends must have eves to little purpose. As yet, the Republicans 
have slept while the enemy sowed tares. The Free Traders have a manufactory of tracts and a 
staff of canvassers to which a clear field has most universally been accorded. We ought long 
since t j have organized to counteract these agencies ; but everybody's business is nobody's, and 
they have been allowed to poison the public mind unresisted. If we mean to lire and not die, 
it is high time that we aroused and prepared to give ihe masses reasons for the faith that is ia 
us. A year hence, it may be entirely too late." — Tribune, October 1*7, 18*70. 



What H. G. Knew about his own prospects for Election. 

" The Eveni7ig Post urges the electors of the Vlth Congress District no< to vote for Horace 
Greeley, but to support instead Samuel S. Cox. Reason — Greeley believes in Protecting Home 
Industry, while Cox favors Free Ti-ade. The Post, for this identical reason, asked the electors 
to vote against Henry Clay for President, supporting instead James K. Polk. The wards now 
composing the Vlth District then rejected The Posies advice, and gave a handsome majority for 
Henry Clay. Now, they will do as they shall see fit." — Tribune, November 3, 1870. 



T/ie Evening Post makes an unreasonable pother of going over to the Sham Democracy. 
Having resolved to go, and let the public see that it is going, it should "stand not on the order 
of its going, but go at once." Its heart and its treasure being both in the camp of the anti- 
Republican, negro-crushing coalition, it should convey its body thither directly, and not persist 
in making feints whereby no one is deceived, and affecting hesitations and dubitations which 
only provoke contempt. —?Vt6M?i«, July 11, 1866. 

What H. G. Knows about the Popular Wish for Grab-Bag Candidates. 

" The peo[)le are not in the mood for trying any- grab-bag experiments. Thfy will insist on 
having a President who fully knows his own mind with regard to the political situation, and 
who has not essentially another mind from theirs. The.y have once or twice taken candidates 
on trust, and have not been encouraged to repeat the venture." — Tribune, July 30, 1867. 



What H. G. Predicted about the coining Presidential Election. 

"We have heard it remarked that, should the elections of 1872 copy those of 1870, a Demo- 
crat would be chosen President. But that is a miscalculation. Missouri was not carried by 
the Democrats in 1870, but by the Schurz and Gratz Brown Republicans ; but we assume that 
enough of these will probably go clear over to put the State against us in '71 We trust they 
will get sick of their strange company, and come back in season for '72. Oregon went Demo- 
cratic in 1870, by a far smaller majority than at her State election of '68 ; yet, when she came 
to vote for President, she gave Seymour but 164 majority over Grant. We drifted astern much 
further in '62 than in "70, but more than recovered our lost ground when we came to a 
Presidential year, when almost every legal voter comes to the front. We purpose to repeat the 
dose in 1872." — Tribune, January 24, 1871. 

Hoiv H. G. Felt it necessary to Proclaim his Innocence, "que sexcus, s'accuse." 

"I, Horace Greeley, do solemnly declare and affirm that I have been a partner in no contract, job, 
or undertaking of any sort, with, to, or for the Government of this State, or of the United States, 
since Abraham Lincoln became President; and that, except by the publication of advertisements 
in The Tribune at the usual and regular prices charged to advertisers generally, I have made no 
dollar of money out of either or any Government, whether by job, contract, commission, or other- 
wise. HouACB Greeley." — Tribune, June 25, 1864. 

W hai H. G. TkougJit about the result of declining the Mission to Austria. 

"The Hon. Daniel S. Dickinson, says Washington gossip, has declined any appointment at 
the hands of this Administration. If Mr. Dickinson has refused a Mission because he waiits no 
office heuceforth, it proves him a wiser man than we had supposed. But if, on the other hand, 
Mr. Dickinson has declined a Mission because he still hankers for the Presidency, and fancies 
this t^he way to improve his chances, then he is — with reverence be it S[)oken — a more inveterate 
donkey than we in our bitterest days supposed him. The chance of climl)ing the dizzy ladder 
fvhereby the White House is scaled seldom comes to any man but once; once missed, it is 
missed forever. ' Out of sight, out of mind,' is more emphatically the rule in politics than 
elsewhere ; and Presidents are rarely or never chosen from among shelved politicians. Neither 
the Slave power nor any other chooses a candidate on account of past services ; it asks not, 



10 What Horace Greeley Knoios 

'What has he done?' but 'What can he do for us?' and Douglas, Marcy, Orr, Letcher, George 
W. Jones, Aadrew Johtisoa, Jeff. Davis, Bright, Rusk, and forty others, staud a better chance 
for the Presidential nomination than Dickinson. These be sober truths ; and we have no motive 
but their truth for stating them. If Mr. D. still hankers for the Presidency, let him recall his 
declension and go in for an office— a good one, if possible— but better a poor one than none. 
Even the affectation of a preference for private life is distrusted and unpopular in these stirring 
times, when 'Look out for No. 1' is the only maxim in universal currency." — Tribune, May 
27, 1857. [H. G. subsequently declined the Mission to Austria,] 



What H. G. Knows about Restoring the host Cause. 

"There are doubtless some men and more women who deplore the changes of the last twelve 
years. They would gladly return to what seems to them ttie golden age of the republic, when 
ladies needed not to parley with and humor their nurses and chambermaids, and when every 
gentleman's rij-ht to ' larrup his own nigger ' was beyond question. But even these are fully 
conscious that the shadow will never recede on the dial — that what has been can never return. 
Pride of opinion and reluctance to confess defeat may sometimes impel them to talk foolishly, 
but their idle vaporing is of just as much consequence as that of the maiden sisters who died a 
few years since in their native New Jersey, proud to the last that they had ever been faithful 
subjects of His Majesty George III (under whose reign they were born) and his lawful successors 
on the British throne. If 'The Lost Cause' shall ever be seriously revived by the losers, the 
winners will be compelled to fight their battles o'er again. Until then it were absurd on our 
part to renew the contests of l860-'G4-'68. Let the dead rest, unless they should insist on 
rattling their bones in their coffins so as to annoy and impede the Avorkers above ground. 
For the present, we decline to admit that what has been well done during the past ten years 
can possibly be undone." — Tribune, April 25, 1872. 



What H. G. Knows about Political Alliances. 

" Touchstone, who was philosopher as well as courtier and poet, told Rosalind in the Forest 
of Arden the great truth in natural history, when he said that ' cat will after kind.' It is true, 
not only in natural history, but in political as well, and applies to dirty dogs, as well as to 
cleanly cats. If there were anj' doubt on this point, the skeptic would have only to turn his 
eyes to the City of Boston to have it forever removed. The remnant of the Boston Whigs there 
have at last coupled with their natural mates. They used to turn up their noses, as if they smelt 
something unsavory, when they met a Democrat, and looked upon them all as one, as the mire 
under their feet. And the Democrats regarded the Whigs with an answering aversion. But 
now I hey have rushed into one another's arms, and sworn eternal fidelity. Like the souls which 
are said to be dropped from heaven well mated, but which are often widely separated in their 
descent, the\^ have been long divided. But like those happj^ spirits which, after long separation 
and tedious search, at last find each other, they have mingled into one in a harmonious mar- 
riage — of which we sincerely trust that there may be no divorce forever." — Tribune, November 
3, 1856. 



W/iat H. G. Knows about the Off Year in Politics. 

" This is the Off Year in politics. Men whose patriotism barely suffices to take them tathe 
polls when a President, or when at least a Governor and Members of Congress are to be chosen, 
will not come out this Fall. The great army of disappointed Office-seekers and selfish aspirants 
to live on the public will also contribute vastly to the legions of sulky stay-at-homes. Gen, 
Grant, lacking the miraculous power which fed multitudes to repletion on a few small loaves 
and fishes, has offended these patriots beyond the hope of present forgiveness." — Tribune, Oc- 
tober il, 1869. 



What II. G. Knew about the Crop of Presidential Candidates. 

" Crops are as essential to nations as to birds. They cannot live without them. Not only 
wealth but life — not merely the pocket but the belly — subsists by their grace alone. No won- 
der, then, that crops should be a matter of eager interest and earnest speculation. Not only our 
bank accounts, (those of us who are lucky enough to have any,) or our foreign debts, but the 
very bread and meat on our tables depr-nd on them. How happy are we, then, in this country, 
to have one crop that never fails — a harvest that is never wanting, though sometimes a little 
spindling. All else may give out — the cotton crop, the tobacco crop, the corn crop, the hay 
crop, the hog crop, yea, even the negro crop may fail — liut the President cro]> is ever safe. 
Summer and Winter, seed-time and harvest, cold and heat, day and night may ce.ase, but Piesi- 
denVs and Presidential candidates will never perish from off the earth. The tree of our libertie.s, • 
like the orange tree, glows with blossoms and buds in every stage of forwardness, ready when 
that divine perfection of the frtiitage on the topmost branch shall drop in its due time, goldenly 
to crown the plant whose leaves are for the healing of the nations. But to dismount from our 
allegory before it becomes as headstrong as those Mrs. Malaprop ' tells of on the banks of the 



n: 



Moif^t Politics and the Presidency. tt 

Kile,' is it not comforting to think that, considering tho Presidency is an office nobody vranta 
there should be so many a Curtiua ready to leap into the gulf which yawQS in our Forum every 
four year?, rather than it should gapa there forever ? — mcu who take the olnco as Beacdick 
took'ncairiee, upon great compulsion, ' and partly to save her life.' It is enough to bring 
tears inio one's eyes to read tho self-denying htters of the confessors who are tenderly entreated 
to submit themselves to this martyrdom. . They one and all exclaim, with the fi?rco despair 
which cstDrted from the recalcitrant churchman the expostulation 'Nolo episcopari,' 'I won't 
bn a Prciidcutr — when the dreadful notion is first suggested to their minds. They 'shudder 
at the gross idea' as the Princess Auncamunca, in the tragedy of Tom Thumb the Great, does 
£t that of ' a man.' And yet, at last, rather than that the Republic should suffer detriment — 
for the sake of their party, of their country, of mankind — they yield, they submit to bo led, re- 
luctant victims, in the direction of the White House, Good, generous souls !" — Tribune, Be- 
comber 14, 1855. 

W/iat H. G. Knew about the Frank Bird Faction of Massachusetts . 

"Twenty-five gentlemen, calling thorasslves 'the Republican Party of Massachusetts,' as- 
sembled in Boston on Thursday last, to declare their own faith, and to emit a pronunciamentq 
addressed to the people of the State. It must be admitted that there have been more numerous 
and imposing meetings. It may not be very fair or generous to grin at so small a body with 
such great pretensions, but the temptation to do so is almost irresistible. We are inevitably 
reminded of bantam cocks, of Tom Thumb, of Sir Jeffrey Iludson, the truculent dwarfj of 
Charles II. Having been ourselves not seldom in an attenuated minority, we arc not over-dis- 
posed to snub the day of srar'dl things. Bat when we consirler the mature and wcU-c'cQaed 
Anti-Slavery sentiment of Massachusetts, so predominant and genuine that it has swept before 
it party after party, and given tone to all legislation for nearly tea years, wc are not willing to 
admit that an organization which can only send twenty-five delegates to a State Convention em- 
braces all that isbonest and trustworthy in the Commonwealth. Such factions, although num- 
bering, perhaps, some wcU-meaniug men, are very apt to be only factions — diragrecing with 
the main body mainly upon points indifferent. Tho split is always, or almost always, the re- 
sult of personal dislikes. It never transcends the dignity of a private quarrel. It is like a fac- 
tion fight at an Irish foir. To make a schism respectable, it must have numbers ; not because it 
is impossible for two men to be in the right, and twenty thousand in the wrong, but because 
such a contingency is not very probable. Therefore, when Mr. F. W. Bird and twenty-four 
others claim to represent the veritable Anti-Slavery sentiment of one of the most decided of 
Anti-Slavery States, the thing is as funny as a farce." — Tribune, October 19, 1857. 



WJiat H. G. Knows about an Honest Declaration of Principles. 

" If the President has cast in his lot with the Copperheads, he ought to say so frankly. Hq 
cannot at once win their confidence and retain that of the party which elected him. He must 
take his stand with one or the other, helping to fight its battles and sharing its prosperous or 
adverse fortunes. If his heart is with the Union party, he must stop plowing with all manner 
of strange heifers and act as he feels. If it is with the adversary, as now seems probable— he 
should in common fairness announce the fact, and let the public act as its judgment shall 
dictate. There is no middle ground ; and there should be aa en.l of disguise and equivocation^ 
Wc shall very gladly hear that the President pro[')ose3 to act henceforth with the Union party ; 
hut, if he has concluded to act with its adversaries, be owes it at least a prompt and frank 
avowal of the truth." — Tribune, March 5, 1866. 

WJiat H. G. Knows about Riding two Political Horses at once. 

" The man who tried to sit on two stools, and failed — the donkey which, perplexed by the 
rival attractions of two different stacks of hay, stood irresolute between them and starved — 
the bold captain in the Beggar's Opera, who, allured at once by two diverse loves, sings 'How 
happy could I be with either, Were to'iher dear channer away,' unite to read a lesson which 
the Democratic managers should take to heart as a warning. They are in danger of being sent 
to Coventry while they are making up their minds whether to cut in for a share of the Negro 
vote or eschew it altogether. In iact, the party is just now in the state of the short-lived 
chicken with two heads and four legs, none of which could be made available because of the 
perverse action of the others." — Tribune, April 19, 1870. 



What H. G. Kioios about an Hofiest Candidate Jhr the Presidency . 

" It is idle to hope that tho gravest and most imminent questions of the hour may ))e blinked, 
and a candidate for Prcsidcnt^found who will satisfy the requirements &n<\ secure the votes at 
once of those who hold that all men were created equal, and of those who, on tho contr.iry, 
hold that Blacks have no rights which Whites are bound to respect. The silent mulii^nd?, v/ho 
do not figure as ofiiccrs at political meetings, but whose votes count heavily in r.n cfjcial can- 
vass, will be sure that they arc not betraying pvineiple, in subservience to an ofScs-hnnting ex- 
pediency, before they deposit their ballots."— T/iSMJze, December 5, 1837. 



12 What Horace Greeley Knoius 

What H. G. Knows about Democracy's Stooping to Conquer. 

" Negro-phobia is studiously fomeuted by our swindling Democracj', so that if a dozen black 
men should venture into a Democratic City Meeting to listen to the eloquence there pourtd 
forth in glorificalion of Iliim^'.n Freedom and Equality, they would be kicked down stairs in 
short order. Yet slill we believe Public sentiment is fast outgrowing the Pagauisni of the 
Church and the Aristocracy of Democracy. And if the Railroads and Stages should once get 
Christianized in this respect, there would be hope that the Churches might, in time, be shamed 
into following the example. As to what vaunts itself ' Democracy,' that is more incorrigible, 
but it, too, will knuckle to a purified Public Sentiment. Only let it be understood that more 
votes (an be obtained by Negrophilism than by Negro-phobia, and Fred. Douglass will be 
called to address a Ratifying Convention in Tammany Hall, with two or three of Afric's sablest 
sons for Vice-Presidents." — Tribune, September 1, 1850. 



W/iat H. G. Knew about a Coalition i7i MassacTiusetts. 

" We congratulate the people of Massachusetts on the discomfiture of this Appleton-Hallett- 
Winthrop-Greene faction. The people have put their foot upon it and crushed its malignant 
life out of it. The union of the political dregs, of the rich and of the poor, has failed of its 
designed effect. The coalition of the Puritans and the Blacklegs, of Blifel and Black George, 
has come to naught. The crushed reptiles may turn and yet strive to sting the foot that hag 
squelched them ; but the great fact of their failure of a triumphant success, after all their humil- 
iations, their expenditures, and their painstakings, is the sentence of their political death. 
They are, at any rate, left for execution, and only await the leisure of the hangman." — Tribune, 
November 8, 1856. 



What H. G. Knows about his Political Aspirations in l860-'62. 
"Mr. Weed charged that I was for Wadsworth in 1362, because I wanted to be a candidate 
for U. S. Senator before the Legislature then to be chosen. I answered that I was charged by 
The World, during the summer of 'G2, with wishing to be a candidate for Governor or Senator, 
and I promptly replied that I would accept neither, nor any office whatever — all which the 
sequel proved true. But, he sa.ya, you were a candidate for Senator before the Legislature chosen 
in 1860. Certainly I wa3, but through no effort or agency of my own. ' Why,' he says, 'Mr. 
Dana and Mr. Cleveland, who were then of The Tribune, supported you.' That is quite likelv. 
I was absent in Illinois and Wisconsin throughout the canvass ; Mr. Cleveland is my brother-in- 
law, and was our correspondent in Albany, and would be apt to support me. But Mr. Dana, I 
understand, is no longer my friend, and he knows whether I had any part whatever in the 
selection of the anti-Weed candidate for Senator in that contest." — Tribune, August 28, 1865. 



What H. G. Knows about third parties. 

" Mr. Doolittle's letter on the Third Party is apparently intended to prove his own great value 
to any partj' he may consent to serve. The only corps of which Mr. Doolittlecan fiirly be con- 
sidered a leader, is that represented by Thenardier in Victor Hugo's Les Miser.ables, who prowl 
about the battle-fields to plunder the dead and wounded, and march indifferently after one army 
or the other for the sake of the spoils. The Conservative Republicans are all going for Grant, 
as Mr. Dooliltle himself would if he were only' a little braver, and the place of the Senator is 
not at the head of any corps, but with the sutlers and camp-followers in the rear." — Tribune, 
July 18, 1868. 

What H. G. Knows of Candidates'' Opinions on Protection. 

" Mr. Patterson, the LocO-Foco candidate, attempted the old game of point-no-point. He 
was for incidental Protection, a judicious Tariff, and all that, after the manner of G^v. Cleve- 
land and company. But this game has had its day. The Producers of this country will never 
be deceived by it again. There is a moral in this victory, which we trust our friends every- 
where will take to heart. The Whig Party can never be defeated in this country when battling 
openly and distinctly upon those great Principles of Public Policy on which it is based. It is 
only by drawing off public attention to local, secondary, and irrelevant issues that our oppo- 
nents succeed. Let us everywhere put forward" our ablest and best men for public stations, and 
place the great issues distinctly before the people. Let us have candidates for Congress who 
can ably advocate our cause and clearly elucidate the great questions of public policy which 
divide us from our opponents, and let us see that they are men who will visit and address the 
People in every Town and Village. Let us everywhere engrave on our flag the Protection or 
American Industry, with a Sound and Uniform Currency, and we cannot be beaten." — Tribune, 
May 25, 1842. 

What H. G. Knew about Politics after lie had failed to secure the Senatorship. 
" We have done our share at shouting, screeching, hurrahing, exhorting, entreating, to in- 



About Politics and tlie Presidency. 13 

duce our readers to vote for this or that ticket or party. This was very well when we were 
yount^er, and when we verily thought the salvation or perdition of our country depended on 
the issue of the pending election; hut having outgrown the feeling which impelled to this 
course, to persist longer in the course itself would be hollow hypocrisy. There was a time 
when we would have readily voted for a Whig of doubtful capacity or integrity rather than a 
Democrat personally fit for the post; but we hive since discovered, not merely that we have 
no moral right to make so great a sacrifice to Party, but that no party can really be benefited 
by helping its knaves and fools into office." — Tribune, November 3, 1853. 



What H. G. Insinuated about Gen. Grant'' s appointing him to office. 

" All I ever saw or heard of Gen. Grant assures me that he has too much sense to think of 
Bending me to San Domingo. Tlius far he has honored and gratified me by never suggesting to 
me that I could be more useful to the country, or to his administration, in any other position 
than in that which I have filled to my own entire satisfaction for almost thirty years. At all 
events, I assure you that I never thought of going to tSan Domingo, am not (I trust) wanted to 
go to San Domingo — and, at all events, won't go to San Domingo." — Tribune, January 9, 
1871. 



What H. G. Knows ahout the Missouri Bolt by Revenue Reformers. 

" The Missouri bolt was arranged in Washington last Winter, and then proclaimed in the 
Free Trade organs. The game was to get a minority of the Republicans to unite with all the 
Democrats and revolutionize the State. To this end, an issue on Enfranchisement was indis- 
pensable. The Democrats were not all Free Traders, but they all wanted the Rebels enfranchised, 
and would vote any ticket to secure that end. The Republicans were divided on Enfranchise- 
ment ; some believing that the time for it had come, others that it had not. When, therefore, 
Carl Schurz, in a bullying, irritating speech, insisted that the Republican Convention should 
make Enfranchisement a plank of its platform, the answer was obvious : ' You ask us to assert 
a falsehood — namely, that we are all in favor of Enfranchisement, when some of us are not.' 
The Republicans adopted a platform, which left every one free to vote for or against Enfran- 
chisement, as he judged best. Hereupon, the predetermined bolt was made. We warned the 
Republicans that the pretext was a sham — that Enfranchisement was certain to be carried any- 
how—that the real object of the bolt was to hand the State over to the Sham Democracy and 
Free Trade, and that is the naked truth." — Tribune, November 30, IBTO. 



What H. G. Knows about the Revenue Reform Game. 

"From the outset, we have insisted that the movement which disguised its purpose under 
the unequivocal phrase, ' Revenue Reform ' purposed the overthrow and ruin of the Republican 
party. The engineers of this movement, in spite of their pretences, never expected to carry it 
through the Republican organizatiou, but over it. Thay did not expect to convince and con- 
vert, nor even to bully the Republicans into acquiescence in their policy — they meant only to 
alienate enough Republicans from their party to secure a triumph to the Democrats, and thus 
achieve the downfiU of the Protective policy. Their game in Missouri foreshadows that which 
they mean to play in our next election of President. Having been fairly outnumbered in the 
Republican State Convention, they bolted and set up an opposition ticket, which they had no 
hope of electing otherwise than by a solid Democratic vote — as they have elected it. Though 
they carried off with them half our politicians and our only journal which circulat'^s through- 
out the State, they have not polled a quarter of the Republican vote; but this sufficed, when 
combinedwith the whole Democratic strength, to carry the State." — Tribune, November 11, 1870. 



What M. G. Kneio ahout Gen. Grant's opinion of Revenue Reformers. 
" President Grant has expressed precisely the opinion we should have expected from him 
concerning the Gratz Brown movement in Missouri. He considers it an effort to disorganize 
the Republican party without cause, which no good Republican who has the interests of the 
country and of the party at heart can fail zealously to combat. How any man professing Re- 
publicanism can fail to take the same view is one of the mysteries which only Revenue Reform- 
ers, Tammany Republicans, and other political nondescripts can be expected to understand." — 
Tribune, September 21, 1870. 



What H. G. Knows about Gratz Brown Sf Co.'s Revenue Reform Bolt. 

'" The moral in Missouri.' Under this title Harper's Weekly sees fit to expatiate on the 
recent bolt of Gratz Brown & Co. from the Republican party. Let us see how fairly it can 
afford to state the material f;icts. It says : ' The Republican Convention in Missouri divided. 
One part renominated Governor McChirg ; the other part renominated Mr. B. Gratz Brown, 
ex-Senator of the United States. The platforms of both parties are excellent.' 'A jyart renom- 
inated Governor McClurg,' did it ? Why not say that it was a clear majority ? Suppose that 



14 What Horace Greeley Knows 

when a part of the delegates in our late State Convention had expressed a preference for Gen- 
eral Woodford, the minority had bolted and nominated some one else, would Harper's have 
treated the bolters so dnintiiy ? Would it have intimated that there was no difference between 
the nomination made by the majority of the Convention and that made by the minority? 
Harper's Weekly suppresses the fact that this bolt was arranged last Winter in Washington, 
and joyfully proclaimed through the correspondence of The Evening Post, Chicago Tribune, 
and their cfonies. General Schenck, Mr. Bingham, and other leading Protectionists were 
marked for defeat in the same programme. Harper' s Weekly would obviate the danger of dis- 
order ia the Republican ranks by the simple expedient of having the majority surrender to the 
minority ! Those who terns themselves ' Revenue Reformers ' will bolt in other States as they 
did in Missouri, if we do not give way to them. Will they not bolt anyhow? They did in 
Missouri, where their own resolve was adopted by the Convention. Why may they not in any 
other State ? The Republican party, on its first accession to power, framed and passed a Protective 
Tariff. That the country is at least One Billion of Dollars richer for that act we do firmly and 
joyfully believe ; and in this faith an immense majority of the Republicans heartily concur. If 
the minority, having adopted on this head the principles and policy of Calhoun, Jefiferson 
Davis, and Howell Cobb, see fit to bolt and throw State after State into the hands of the Sham 
Democracy, we cannot help ii." — Tribune, September 26, 1870. 



What IT. G. Knows about tJie attempt to Break up the Republican Party, 

"The Free Traders have determined to abandon and oppose the Republican party. The pre- 
meditated Gratz-Brown bolt in Missouri, with the countenance afforded it in other States, The 
Evening PosV s open support of the Democratic candidate for Congress in the Elmira district be- 
cause he is a Free Trader, the malignant attack upon the republican leaders in Congress by 
nominally Republican journals, and a thousand other indications, point unerringly to this seces- 
sion. We can countervail those apostacies by frankly and boldly taking up the gage insidi- 
ously thrown down, and saying to all : ' Yes ; we are Protectionists, as Washington, Hamilton, 
Madison, Clay, the Clintons, Tompkins, Simon Snyder, &c., &c., were, and for identical rea- 
sons. Hoar them ! ' Men and brethren, is not this the manly way to enduring ascendancy ? 
Is there any other?" — Tribune, October 18, 1870. 

What H. G. Knows about the Prospects of the Republican Party. 

" We publish on another page this morning a carefully prepared letter from Washington on 
the political i)rospects of the Republican party. Our correspondent concludes (as was indeed 
already manifest) that the 'new-party movement' of the 'Revenue Reformers' was without 
strength and unorganized, and that the Republican party will approach the next contest as 
united on national issues and as earnest in the advocacy of its principles as in the past. The 
dissensions of the Democracy are not, we believe, exaggerated, although it is to our own 
strength, and not to our enemy's weakness, that we must look for success." — Tribune, Decem- 
ber 21, 1870. 



What II. G. Knows about the duty of Republicans to Support their Candidates. 

"Mr. Greeley insists on the perfect right of every Republican to avow his personal preference 
as to the Republican candidate for next President, and cannot realize that rare courage is ever 
evinced in making such avowal. W'hen a Republican National Convention, fairly chosen after 
free consultation and the frank interchange of opinions, shall have nominated Republican caa- 
didates for President and Vice-President, we expect to urge all Republicans to give them a 
hearty, effective support, whether they be or be not of those whose original preference has 
been gratified. Until that time Mr. Greeley will maintain the perfect and equal right of every 
Republican to indicate and justify his preference, whether it favor the incumbent or some other 
Republican." — Tribune, August \o, 1871. 

What H. G. Knew when he zvas first asked if he loould he a Candidate for the 

Presidency . 

" I trust never henceforth to be an aspirant for any ofBce or political position whatever ; but 
I fully purpose, also, never to decline any duty or responsibility which my political friends 
shall see fit to devolve upon me, and of which I shall be able to fulfil the obligations without 
neglecting older and more imperative duties." — Tribune, November 21, 1871. 



What H. G. Kneto originally about Bolters. 

"It is the same bolting squad, with very few changes, which now pretends to reorganize the 
party. It is a faction that burrows and prowls — that nominates candidates in order to defeat 
them — that loves darkness rather than light — that seeks to compensate by finesse and fraud for 
the paucity of its numbers and the baseness of its aim. We trust it will not forget to hold 
another Convention. The more the people are permitted to see of it, the less danger can there 
be that they will be duped by iV— Tribune, August 15, 1856. 



About Politics and the Presidency. 15 

What H. G. Knew after Tie was further entreated to he a Presidential Candidate. 

" Within the last six or eight months the Editor of this journal has received sorae thirty or 
forty letters — mainly from inivate persons — proposing that he should be a candidate lor the 
next President. Tliat he has answered few of these overtures was owing to no indifference, 
real or affected, but to his presumption that candidates are to be made by others than them- 
selves. There was no doubt that, if chosen to that high office, he would accept it — do you 
happen to know any one who would not? — so that he was the last, instead of the first, to be 
addressed on the subject. But no one was more fully aware than he that such a summer as 
these overtures contemplated is not made by a dozert straggling swallows; and then many 
important events must intervene before the proper time for opening the Presidential canvasa 
of l^n:' — Tribune, May 4, 1871. 

What H. G, Knew about the false position in which all woidd he placed if He was 

nominated hy Democrats. 

"I have no doubt that the policy yon suggest is that which your party [the Democrats] ought to 
adopt. * * * You only err as to the proper candidate, i am not the man you need. Your party 
is mostly Free Trade, and I am a ferocious Protectionist. I have no doubt that I might be nomi- 
nated and elected by your help, but it would place us all in a false position. If I, who am ad- 
versely interested, can see this, I am sure your good sense will on reflection realize it. You 
must take some man like Gratz Crown, or Trumbull, or Gen. Cox, late Secretary of the Interior, 
and thus help to pacify and reunite our country anew." — Tribune, December 30, 1871. 



What IT. G. Knew about the effect of a Democratic success in the Presidential 

election. 

" The personal views of Mr. Greeley are exactly these : He favors the One Term principle, and 
believes that another Republican candidate for President can be selected who will encounter less 
opposition and win more support than Gen. Grant ; and he therefore advocates such election. 
But should his views be overruled ai'd Gen. Grant nominated, he holds his election infinitely 
preferable to that of any candidate whom the -Democrats may nominate, for a Democratic 
triumph involves the return to power of the great mass of those who for years plotted the dis- 
ruption of our Union, and at length forced the Southern States into secession and ret ellion con- 
trary to the wishes and the judgment of a decided majority of their people. A Democratic triumph 
involves the ascendancy of those who hate the Nation's creditors because their money power- 
fully contributed to the overthrow of the Rebellion, and will find a way to cheat them if possi- 
ble. A Democratic triumph involves the subversion of protection to our Home Industry, with 
a repetition of the wide-spread disasters and distresses which have repeatedly and naturally 
followed such overthrow. The 'personal views of Mr. Greeley' -impel him to deprecate a 
Democratic National triumph as one of the gravest National calamities ; and this is his main 
reason for wishing the selection of a Republican candidate for President who will be more cer- 
tain of success than Gen. Grant." — Tribune, August 18, 1871. 



What H. G. Knew about his qualifications for an independent nomination. 

" Mr. Greeley, to the best of his knowledge, has been quietly minding his own business at 
and about home, and is happy to confirm the statement that he is too 'erratic, crotchety, and 
unreliable' to be a party to any back-stairs intrigue for the Presidency." — Tribune, December 
5, 1871. 

What H. G. Knew might he done at Cincinnati. 

" If there is any trouble at Cincinnati, it is from the inclinations of nominating Rings. We 
beg to say just one thing to this Convention. The biggest thing before the country is the 
question of the honest men against the thieves. What the country sorely needs and impera- 
tively demands is a reform in the Administration of Government. This is not to be attained by 
combinations of worn-out political hacks, to secure the nomination of some candidate for Pres- 
ident who may suit their peculiar wants and views." — 2Vi6Mwe, April ZQ, 1872. 



What H. O. Knew about the Schemes of the Free Traders at Cincinnati. 

"We judge from our dispatches herewith printed, that a very considerable proportion of the 
Free-Traders who have mustered strongly by preconcert at Cincinnati are resolved to insist on 
a Free-Trade plank in the platform of the Liberal Convention. Should they carry their point, 
we shall have increased respect for their courage, with a low estimate of their discretion. In 
such case, we trust they will use no ambiguous, juggling phrases, but set forth their exact 
meaning in words that will not bear two interpretations. Sooner or later the country must 
and will divide on the Tariff question : if the Free-Traders choose to draw the line now, it is 
their clear right to do so."— Tribune, April 30, 1872. 



16 What Horace Greeley Knows. 

Wiat H. G. Knew in 1843 ahout an irregular Presidential Candidate in 1872. 
"When one manifestly not called to be a Candidate by the unequivocal voice of the Country, 
or even of his own party, is seen elbowing, jostling, jockeying in a crowd of .-ispiranis for the 
party nomination, writing electioneering letters, higgling about the terms of the Convention, 
and obviously striving to secure to himself all possible advantage in the time of assemljling' 
the manner of ek-cting Delegates and the mode of voting, we feel that the spectacle presented Is' 
one discreditable to the individual in the foreground, and humiliating to the dignity of the 
American People." — Tribune, June 5, 1843. 

What H. G. Knew in 1853 ahout selling out the Repuhlican Party in 1872. 
"Several gentlemen of the editorial profession are warmly engaged, with such sagacitj' and 
prescience as Providence has allotted to them, in drawing up proposals for the disposition of 
the Republican party, which they seem to regard as a piece of merchandise which it will be 
vastly profitable to sell and equally disastrous to keep. That conjuncture of public affairs 
must be a peculiar and a rare one which will either authorize or permit party conventions, or 
party leaders of which such conventions are too often composed, to ofifer at public vendue the 
suffrages of about a Million of Voters, honest and intelligent, or presumed to be so. There 
have been in the past, and there may be in the future, parties manufactured for sale, and 
therefore venal and vendible. Those who have undertaken to dispose of tlie Republican 
Party will do well to consider whether the circumstances of its inception and of its existence, 
through victory and defeat, up to the present time, indicate those indispensable conditions, 
without which its own ratification of the little transaction — somewhat necessary, we venture 
to suggest — would be hopeless; and without which the most mischievous distraction and the 
most lamentable disintegration would be only temporary. A great party, under any circum- 
stances, is a pretty hard thing to sell ; a party composed of men who have, or profess to have 
consciences, is the hardest thing in the world to dispose of." — Tribune, December 3, 1858. 



What H. G. Knew in 1843 about an equivocating Presidential Candidate. 

" Mr. Van Buren is determined to secure his nomination first, and then deal with the Tariff 
and other perplexing questions as the necessities of the Canvass shall require. It is not prob- 
able that such a nomination will command the respect of the party for which it professes to 
act, or of any portion of it but the personal adherents of its author. As an expression of 
opinion its decision will be a manifest farce." — Tribune, April 20, 1843. 



4 



What H. G, Knows about the Position of the Democratic Party. 

" It was not to be expected that the party which opposed the war for the Union could long 
survive its successful conclusion. Held together by the cohesive power of expected divisions of 
party spoils, it has outlived the logical period for its demise, but not for long. Becoming a 
party for mere negatives it has nothing but opposition and destruction to offer the country. 
It proposes only to abolish, repeal, repudiate, and annul ; it offers no substitute for what it 
seeks to destroy. It is the anarchist which would destroy order, but reveals no future condi- 
tion of betterment — only confusion, chaos, nothingness. Such a party cannot, in the nature 
of things, long maintain even a spasmodic existence. In all truth and soberness, we cannot 
see what possible mission the Democratic party has to fulfil in the country. Party organiza- 
tion for the sake only of securing and dividing the public offices cannot long exist. And to 
this complexion the once proud old Democratic party has come at last. The great thefts of 
Tammany, in New York, are an earnest of what would be done wherever the Democracy can 
secure power. It is public plunder, not principle, which binds together the dominant party in 
'New York; and, whether Gov. Hoffman's freebooters fleece the merchants in the Bay, or the 
man who boasts of owning the Legislature of New York binds the city hand and foot, it ia 
reckoned legitimate policy by Democratic tacticians. It does not seem in reason that a party so 
organized and conducted should long exist. But it needs all the hard blows that Republicans 
can deliver upon it to bring down to the dust of defeat this preposterous sham, which has no 
longer any excuse for being. We do not see what is to keep this misnamed band of conspira- 
tors much longer alive. Only t^fe lethargy of its natural foes will permit its further success in 
the nation." — Tribune, September 2, 1871. 

What H. G. Knows ahout the Prospects of Gen. Grants Re-election. 

" As !\ Republican we have no right and no wish to direct the future course of the party to 
which we sh.all at any rate stand opposed. If that party shall see fit to challenge us to fight over 
, again the battle of 1868 we shall of course take up the gage with great and well-founded confi- 
dence of success. 

" We have no fear that the American people will reverse in "72 the verdict they recorded in 
the election of Grant and Colfax. In a purely partisan aspect, we should consider this our best 
bold."— 2Vi6«ne, March II, 1871. 



WHAT HORACE GREELEY KNOWS 

ABOUT 

Tlie Democralic Party, from 1841 until 1872, inclusive — His opinions 

of the Democratic Organization — Its Intrigues and its. 

Bargains — Its Deceits and its Diplomacy, 

(&c., dtc, <&c. , 



WJiat H. G. Knew about Democratic support of cal opponent, in September, 1841. 

" To you, Young Mea of New York ! j'our country appeals in this hour of trial but of hope, 
for a generous and enthusiastic effort. Your gaze is bent hopefully ou the Future, not uselessly 
on the Past. You cannot be made to fancy exclusive Democracy in the servile devotees of 
Executive Supremacy in Legislation, in the strenuous advocates of Gag-Laws, the deriders of 
the People's Hight of Petition. You cannot look, without the loathintc of manly natures, on 
the open alliance, shocking to all decency, of an accident, who has falsified all his pledges and 
betrayed those who exalted him to power, with a party which he was expressly elected to 
oppose, but which, finding him hollow and faithless, now fawns around him for the spoils he 
doles out to them, and are eager to flatter where Ihey cannot but despise." — JVibune, Septem- 
ber 24. 



What H. G. Knew about the Democratic Party in Februanj, 1842. 

"There is a dry Scotch proverb which says, 'He must have a long spune who sups kail with 
the deil.' Nine-tenths of the convicted felons, outlaws, fugitives from Justice and others who 
have no right to vote in our city, and can never legally acquire any, are attached by an in- 
stinctive sympathy to the Loco-Foco party." — Tribune, February 12, 1842. 



What U. G. Knew about the Democratic Party in June, 1843. 

" When American Citizens used to gather by hundreds to sing and dance around Hickory 
Poles, with biirrels of whisky rolled out and heads of Beer-Casks stove in — when right here, in 
the heart of this enlightened emporium, men were seen, aft£r a cask of beer had been poured 
into the hole where tbe Pole was to be set in front of Tammany Hall, to lie down and drink it 
from the ground like hogs — the Kinderhooper saw nothing 'disreputable' then. When 
American Citizens have been swept away from the Poles of our city with clubs by bands of mis- 
guided and excited immigrants, half civilized and maddened with liquor furnished them liy 
party liberality, we had no bint from Mr. Van Buren that such scenes were 'disreputable' or 
calculated to impair 'the Confidence of mankind in our fitness for free institutions.' When 
men who felt it their duty to bear testimony against Slavery were mobbed and bludgeoned for 
peacefully so doing, and the owner of a free press was shot down in his own tenement fiu' 
guarding his press from destruction by a band of rufiBans who chose to suspect that it would be 
used against Slavery, this demagogue could see in it nothing calculated to shake conGdence in our 
fitness for free institutions, but coolly remarked in his Inaugural that a 'reckless disregard of 
the consequences of their conduct has exposed individuals to popular indignation.' " — Tribune. 



What II. G. Knew about the Democratic Party in September, 1850. 

" We use the term ' Loco-Foco' to designate a certain political creed, whereof exclusive Hnrd 
Money, hostility to the Protection of Home Labor, general aversion to Government aid to iho 
improvement of Rivers, Harbors, &c., are the chief articles. The fit motto of this political 
school is, 'The best Government is that which governs least.' It would, if logically cousistem, 
confine the sphere of Government to punishing criminals and repressing outrage on persons and 
I'rf'perty. It is ado-nothing, stand-still, anti-social school. We, on the other hand, believe 
that Government, like every other intelligent agency, is bound to do good to the extent of itj 
ahility — that it ou<;ht actively to promote and increase the general well-being — that it should 
cnfoarage and fosier Industry, Science, Invention, Intellectual, Social and Physical Progress, 
a?' well as provide Prosecuting Attorneys, Constables and Executioners. Such is our idea of the 
s[)here of Governnjent — such is our conception of the essence and scope of the great qacsiions 
whereon the Country is Politically divided."-— T'niMne, September 18, 1850. 

17 



18 WJiat Horace Greeley Knows 

What II. G. Knew about the Democratic Party in February, 1851. 

" In the United States a grc:it political parh- has in times past made the abolition of japer money 
and an establishment of an exclusive metallic currency its war-cry. That party called itself Dem- 
(jcrulic, the party of the People. No matter what its pretences, its measures in this respect, as 
in every other, have had no other tendency than to strengthen the power of money, diminish 
the reward of Labor, and. hand the Masses, unprotected and incapable of resistance, over to the 
lender mercies of capitalists and usurers." — Tribune^ February 12, 1851. 



What II. G. Kneio about the Democratic Party in 1854. 

" Our Democracy has now, with a corrupt Christianity, reduced the United States to a great 
c;inspirator against human liberty. Aggression, annexation, slave-extension are all contained 
;ind :!pprovcd in the so-called Democracy and so-called Christianity which coalesces with it. 
^Yo need men — not trading priests, nor trading politicians, nor trading merchants — but meu — 
men who see what Christianity is in its sublime morality, and what Democracy is according to 
the organic spirit and the political instrument which underlie the whole theory and practice of 
this Government — the Declaration of Independence, in a word. We need journals — not echoes, 
not subscriber-hunting, popularity-cherishing organs — but presses of light and liberty. We 
need advocates of principles and enemies of truckling and corruption. Our great men so called 
have tailed to reduce a great political truth to practice during this century. They have dallied 
wiih the evil. If in the South, they have held with the grip of exasperated avarice to their 
bondmen ; if in the North, they have been careful not to offend their Southern lirethren, lest 
they should not get the regular nomination. And what has all this South done which has so 
lorded it with her one hundred or two hundred thousand negro-drivers over this country? 
Where are her superiorities — her arts, or her literature even, except as they come from the 
North ? Where are her chemistry, geology, literature, mechanics, engineering, esthetics — where 
are her grand efforts to diminish human toil — her stcam-cnginea, locomotives, timber-bending, 
or planing, or sewing, or washing-machines — all Ibis gospel of divine economies (or the sweat- 
ing and sorrowijig humanities of thousands of years?" — Tribune, August 18, 1854. 



What II. G. Knew about the Democratic Party in March, 1855. 

"This election discloses what the elections elsewhere in the North demonstrate, that the old 
Democratic party is reduced to a skeleton, and can nowhere stand against the Opposition, if 
the elements of the Opposition will combine. This party, so longinvinciblo through the charm 
ofits name and the drill of its organization, is stripped of its power and trembles upon the 
verge of dissolution. If the Opposition will only.be wise, it has the power to extinguish it at a 
blow. The great traitorous combination which, in the name of Democracy, has dared to stiike 
a parricidal blow at the cause of Freedom and progress on this Continent, may iiself be cloven 
down in the act. It is a time when minor differences should bo forgotten, and when all should 
unite to complete the overthrow of those arch-traitors who, professing, in their own language, 
to believe this to be a ' nigger era,' have instituted their atrocious experiment upon the public 
credulity and the public sense of rigTit." — Tribune, March 15, 1S55. 



What II. G. Knew about the Democratic Party in March, 1856. 

" It were wrong to deny that the party most confident of a triumphant i.=isue from the next 
Presidential contest is that which uses the name of Democracy to cover and advance the most 
fanatical devotion to human inequality and the interminable degradation of the wretched and 
helpless." — Tribune, March 31, 1856. 

What H. G. Knew about the Democratic Party in June, 1856. 

" No one vrho has watched, during the last ten years, the proceedings of those who consider 
themselves the leaders of the Democratic Party, can have failed to observe the lack of all gen- 
eral ideas, of all fundamental political philosophy which characterizes their speeches, their con- 
ventions, and their acts. The men who laid the foundations of our republic, and esi)ecially 
Jefferson, had a political philosophy of which the theoretical part was mostly derived from the 
French authors who preceded and prepared the revolution, and the practical part from the com- 
mon law and the institutions of England. The fundamental doctrine of that philosophy was 
Ih.tt each individual man is possessed of certain inalienable rights, and that government is but 
the instrument for the protection of those rights. How shamefully the party has departed 
t';oin this principle we do not now propose to inquire. It is rather the absence of all prineip'e, 
t\iid tlif^ decisifm of questions of the gravest importance upon considerations of policy utterly 
un\v(<rihy of statesmen, to which we wish to invite attention." — Tribune, Jane 23, 185G. 

Wliat H. G. Kneio about the Democratic Party in April, 1857. 

" The Council of Sachems of the Tammany Society are the masters, for the time being, of 
Tammany Hall. They close it peremptorily^ against any party or fiiction which they pro- 



About the Democratic Party. 19 

nounce heterodox ; tbey- open it lo that committee or faction on which they deifTQ to smile, 
which thereupon becomes clothed with all the potentialities and splendors rip;htrnl]y pertaining 
to the regular Democracy of the city of New York. And for this ' lepular Democracy,' or 
whoever may wear its countersign, there are ten to twenty thousand electors in this city who 
will shout and sweat and vote — wl^ose sweet %'oices are the unquestioned property of whoever 
has the ' open sesame ' of Tammany Hall. And what is this Tammany Society? A secret, 
self-created, self-perpetuating cabal, mainly of aspiring politicians, with a few who once were 
but are so no longer. It is in essence as thorough an aristocracy as Sparta or Venice ever 
knew. It is an organized con?piracy to give to the sellish intrigues of the few llie appearance 
and weight due only to the disinterested convictions and intelligent decisions of the many. . It 
is a part of the pame by which Government is made to subserve the end of aggrandizing the 
directors of political machinery at the cost of the simple and credttkius multitude." — Tribune. 



What H. G. Knew about the Democratic Party in April, 1858. 

"In contemplating the Democratic party as it now is, and comparing it with the Democratic 
party as it used to be, whether of the time of Jefferson or of the time of Jackson, one is forcibly 
reminded of that metaphysical pair of silk stockings which by dint of repeated dirning had 
become entirely worsted, wiihout a single thread of silk lef» in them. Very much the same is 
the [(resent predic;iment of that which calls itself the Democratic party. No pair of stockings, 
whether silk or of any other texture, was ever put to su h hard usage, to such perpetual aud 
consuming wear, os of late years the Democratic party has been. As a natural consequence, 
holes ha^e broken out in every direction. These holes, it is true, have been verj"- diligently 
darned wi h whatever material came readiest to hand — at a vast expense, too, to the Treasury ; 
the public expenditures have mightily increased under the operation. Appearances have been 
kept up. The outward forms, the old name, have been preserved. The stockings are still 
called silk, and as such to a certain extent pass muster, or have, till quite lately, with an undis- 
cerning and unscrutinizing public. But when we come to examine them a little closely, how 
small a modicum of the original texture or even of the nominal material do we find left I 
Without stopping to call attention to the holes in the party which Buchanan and Toucey, 
old Ftderalists, and renegade Whigs, are now filling, how completely in the matter of prin- 
ciple and sentiment has this so-ealled Democratic party ceased to be silk and become totally 
worsted !" — Tribune, April 5, 1858. 



What II. G. Knew about the Democratic Party in September, 1858. 

"It was once the boast of the Democratic party, carefully confined in its enunciation to 
quarters iu which a suspicion of culture and refinement could do no harm, that it had selected 
the cleverest men of letters in the land. It must be admitted that the claim was not destitute 
of presumption, and that nominally the show was a fair one. Several able writers were called 
by the party name, swallowed the parly pap, and paraded 'themselves as the ornaments, if not 
the safeguards of the party. Their condescension was tolerably requited by an organization, 
the Chief of which c mid not spell, and the Camp-followers of which could not read. Mr. 
Irving was called a Democrat, and was sent lo Spain and to his beloved Alhambra. Mr Ban- 
croft was dubbed a Democrat, and was made Collector of Boston, and Minister at St. James. 
Mr. Paulding was denominated a Democrat, and received a port-folio at Washington. Mr. 
BrowQSon Mtis christened a Democrat, and was appointed Master of Chelsea Hospital. These, 
however, were but nibblers at the gigantic loaf of Executive patronage, while the disjosition of 
the slices indicated with painful accuracy the predominating tastis of the Democracy. At 
Washington, its newspaper was sometimes strong, always coarse, and never polished. General 
Jackson could not write the English language; Mr. Van Buren used it adroitly, but never v\ith 
the skill or the taste of a scholar; Mr. Polk, if he ever entertained the least passion for letters, 
never told his love, and succeeded charmingly in concealing it; Mr. Pierce whs a country 
lawyer, who read what he was obliged to read and nothing more; Mr. Biichanan's literary as- 
pirations culminated nearly a century ago in the dubiousshape of a more dubious Fourlh-ol-July 
Oration, for uttering which he has indubitably cursed himself and his stars ninety and nine 
times. Of the Democratic Doctors we know nothing and care to know nothing. Of the Demo- 
crciic Lawyers, we can only say that, if the National bar can yield us no brighter ^itional 
bench, the brilliancy of its members maybe utterlv blinding in a Piepowder Court, buPias not 
thus far illuminated loftier tribunals. Of Democratic Clergymen, we may remark that we never 
«aw one, and never heard of one, if we except those good men who guard the morals of our 
pious tars, aud minister lo the souls deceased of our Senators and Representatives." — Tribune. 



What H. G. Knew ahout the Democrats of Massachusetts in 1858. 

"Among the many Peculiar Institutions of this great country, there is perhaps none 
more peculiar than the Democratic Party of Massachusetts. V^e might say, the Demo- 
cratic Party of Boston, as there are very few members of it out of Boston, and out of 
the number of those earnestly longing to get there in the service of their country. The 
policy of the Democratic leaders in that city has been, since Jackson first came into 



20 What Horace Greeley Knows 

power, to keep the party 'conveniently small,' as somebody well expressed it, so that 
the Treasury pap should not be wasted on the unworthy, or its messes— distributable to 
the children of light— be unduly diminished by an infinitessimal subdivision. In fact, 
the Lady Patronesses of Almack's never tried to keep that exclusive institution select 
more zealously than the Boston Democratiarchs have always labored to preserve Ibeir 
esoteric priesthood safe from the invasion of exoteric iutruders. It is taken for granted 
that the Democratic Party can get along extremely well without Massachusetts; and it 
is by no means desirahle that the small remnant that is left of the faithful in that 
world lying first in Whiggery and now in Republicanism should lose any portion of 
their reward tbrouerh an undue competition for the crown of their martyrdom." — Tri- 
bune, October 11, 1858. 



What H. G. Knew-ahout the Democratic Party in May, 1S59. 

" But, if we are to believe the assertions of Democratic presses and leaders, their quarrels are 
soon lo cease and determine forever. Old controversies are not merely to be ignored — ihey are 
to be annihilated. Not only is the statute of limitations to be adjudged to have run against all 
past offences, but they are, by solemn resolution, to be declared never to have existed. Not 
only is there to be no reference in thouorht or word to the repudiation of Van Buren in 1844, 
and the assassination of Wright in 1846 ; to the corner-stone scrimmage of 1847, and the Buf- 
falo bolt of 1848 ; to the slaughter of the Hard innocents by Marcy and Pierce, and the cold- 
Bbouldering of Dickinson's friends by Buchanan — but all recollection of these and cognate 
events is lo be obUteialed. The hatchet is to be buried. The Geronomos and the Leonii are to 
embrace and be brothers. There is to be no more breaking of heads in Tammany ; no more 
packing of State Conveniions ; no more double delegations to National Conventions; no more 
V\ ood and Sickles brawls ; no more ' running of the machine ' at Syracuse by Peter Cagger; ' 
no more wrangling at Albany ; no more cheating at Washington ; Capulet, the Hard, and 
ilontague, the Soft, are to smoke the pipe of peace — our venerable President, by seniority of 
years, laying his benedictive hands upon the heads of the two houses. If any sugjreslioiis of 
GUIS can facilitate this devoutly-wished consummation, they will be cheerfoJiy given, on re- 
quest, to the chiefs ofthe high contracting parties." — Tribune, May 18, 1859. 



What H. G. Knew about the Democratic Party in October, 1S59. 

" Right well do the rich Democrats know that illegal voting — voting by aliens, by minors, 
and by persons who have not lived here long enough to entitle them to the right of suCFragc — 
voting two, three, five, ten, and even twenty times at the same election — is the malignant can- 
cer of our political system. They know that herein is the stronghold of blackleg potency and 
rowdy predominance in our city elections. Mr. Watts Sherman could only vote more iha-i once 
in iiny election with great difficulty and danger ; but Tague Maloney and Hans Spifferdecker 
could hitherto put in their dozen votes each at an election with ease and impunity. It is as no- 
torious iu well-informed political circles, that Robert H. Morris was once returned Mayor of 
this city by six thousand majority, when he had not six hundred (if any) majority of the legal 
voles ; that Aaron Clark was run out by voting the same men over and over against him ; that 
James K. Polk had a large majority returned for him here when Henry Clay beat him largely on 
the legal poll ; that Wood was first made Mayor by some two thousand declared majority, when 
Baker beat him as many on the legal poll ; that Buchanan was declared to have received forly- 
fivti thousand votes here, when his actual legal vote was less than forty thousand ; and that in 
the last Ma_\oralty election not less than fifteen thousand illegal votes were polled — not all on 
one side, though Wood received by far the most of them." — Tribune, October 15, 1859. 



What H. G. Knew about the Democratic Party in July, 18C0. 

" The utter impotence and paralysis into which the once proud and powerful Democratic party 
has fallen is evinced in many ways, but in none more slriKingly than in the character of its lies 
and liars. How its orators and journals used absolutely to rain calumnies on Adams and Clay 
and Harrison, and in later days on Seward and Fremont ! — none of your little, contemptible, 
picayi^ falsehoods, but great, fat, black lies, that had venom and sting in them — lies that 
evinced originality, audacity, and even genius." — Tribune, July 9, 1860. 



What H. G. Knew about the Democrats of Pennsylvania in 1860. 

"Men of Pennsylvania! we state to you facts drawn from official records— facts of 
the widest notoriety. You know whether The Trlb<me, located in this focus of Impor- 
tation and of Free-Trade influence, has ever faltered in its support of Protection, or has 
been earnest and out spoken through the twenty years of its existence. You cannot 
shake our devotion to the cause which we know to be that of Industrial Development 
and the National growth, even by repeating the idiotic madness of 1844. But there are 
others less tenacious because less deeply grounded in conviction than we are; and we 



About the Democratic Party. 21 

tell you that the triumph of Pro-Slavery Democrats in the pending contest in your State 
will be regarded and treated by the country as an avowal on your part that you do not 
really want a Protective Tarill'. In other words, ' if Pennsylvania does as siie did in 
'44 sue will reap just such a reward for it as she did in '46.' And who can say that she 
will not have desserved it? " — TnOune, September 26, 18G0. 



What H. G. Knew about tie Democratic Party in November, 1861. 

" Certain Democratic politicians of our own and other loj'al States, who regard everything 
from a jiartisun stand-point, are sedulously inculcating the belief that the ascendancy of thtir 
party would put an end to the present civil war. Now if it were distinctly proclaimed that the 
Democrats, if restored to power, would make peace with the Rebels on their own terms, the 
assertion would be by co means incredible. But the impression sought to be made that the 
Pro-Slavery rebels would lay down their arms and return to loyalty if their old fi lends the 
Democrats were in power at Washington, is utterly unwarranted by facts. The Secessionist 
Master-Spirits are thorough believers in what Gov. Seward once felicitously termed the 'irre- 
pressible conflict.' They hold with Mr. Lincoln in 1858, that the Country cannot permanently 
remain half slave and half free. And, despairing of their ability to master and rule it persist- 
ently and thoroughly, they have fully resolved to segregate and tear away what they esteem 
their half of it completely and forever. Holding themselves gentlemen and cavaliers by birth 
and breeding they revolt against Democracy not less than against Anti-Slavery. They repudi- 
ate the present Administration as a Government of snobs rather than of fanatics. They never 
feared that President Lincoln would meddle with their slaves, but they cannot bear the thought 
of being governed by a flat-boatman and rail-splitter. It is that inevitable tendencj- of North- 
ern ideas and institutions to raise the sons of clodhoppers and cobblers to the high places of the 
land-that has plunged the Chivalry of the Rice-Swamp and the Cotton-field into the gulf of 
rebellion. They mean to make an end of the rule of 'mudsills' whether of one or the other 
party, and will no longer be placated by the utmost servility to ' the peculiar institution.' 
llence all attempts to coax them back into the Union by a restoration of Democratic rule and a 
prospect ofits continuance are certain to prove illusory." — Tribune, March 5, 1861. 



WJiat H. G. Knew about the Democratic Party in October, 1862. 

"If the Democratic journals of the Free States were truly loyal — nay, if they were tolerably 
honest — they would let their readers know that a peace with the Rebels is impossible, because 
no peace can be had which does not involve the absolute ruin of the Republic. Henry May, 
M. C. from Baltimore, a dubious Unionist, elected in good part by the Secession vote, went to 
Richmond more than a year ago expressly to ascertain on what terms the Confederates would 
niidce peace. They promptly assured him that no terms that involve a restoration of the Union 
were admissible — that, if they were offered a blank sheet of paper, with authority to write on 
it their own conditions of reunion, they would rtject it. This has for many months been a 
matter of notoriety ; but how many of the Pro-Slavery journals of the Free States have given 
it circulation? Has it ever been alluded to in any speech of Gov. Seymour or any one of his 
supporters? Lieut. Maury wrote last Spring from Richmond a letter to a French friend, 
intended to serve as a Rebel manifesto. In this letter he distinctly declared that the terms of 
peace which would be insisted on by his fellow-Rebels were such as the Unionists would not 
and could not accede to until they should be in the last stages of exhaustion. They would 
have West Virginia, which never adhered to but has always opposed them, and they would 
require a popular vote to be taken in Kentucky, Missouri, and Delaware, to decide whether 
those States respectively should belong to the Union or the Confederacy.. And the Lieutenant, 
though he crammed his letter with atrocious falsehoods, was frank enough to admit that he 
did not expect the Unionists to submit to such terms until after they shall have been very badly 
whipijdd." — Tribune, October 2, 1862, 

What H. G. Knew about the Democratic Party in 1863. 

"It must be confessed that the 'Democracy of the State of Maine dies very hard. It seems 
to have set its obdurate heart upon departing this life in any thing but a smell of .«anctity ; and 
now, when it holds Conventions, which must be like a collection of sick folk in a hospital, it 
always passes resolutions which modern events have rendered ridiculous, though we don't den- 
that ten years ago they would have been strictly after the regulation pattern. The trouble with 
these honest gentlemen is, that having all their lives been licking the feet of slaveholders, fur the 
snke of the place and pelf, no severity of kicking can rid them of the habit. Dirt-eating, as the 
West-Indian doctors inform us, is an incurable disease, but who would have expected to find the 
same odd trouble in the nosology of Maine? It is an exceedingly unpleasant business. The 
contemplation of it has an adverse influence upon the stomachs of sound men. Now, in the 
midst of this hot civil war, in which the devil is contending for the everlasting continuance of 
human degradation, to find beings who wear coats and not petticoats, breeches and not bodices, 
owlishly resolving all sorts of flummery in favor of their foes, and sending little bits of cringing 
sophistry, with their best compliments, into the enemy's camp — it is dreadful 1 It almost couverts 



^22 What Horace Greeley Knows 

us to the doctrine of the inequality of the races. They caunot — these Maine Douprh Democrats — 
be of the same flesh and blood with the brave fellows vv-ho are fighiing our battles. The ways 
of FroviJence are past tinding out. Why, in the name of our iimiied reason, are these gentry free 
in the East, while respectable blacks are slaves in the South? Alas ! this boasted Ethnology is 
more of a muddle than ever ! If white siiias must tnus betray their possessors into servility, 
most honorable Caucasians will weep that they were not bora as black as night." — Tribune. 



What II. G. Knew about the Democrats in 1867. 
" The World, apparently speaking in the interest of our city hotels and restaurants, pro- 
poses that a Convention be held of those Democrats wiio sutfered from arbitrary arrests 
liuriag the Lincoln reign. Such a Convention could only bo lodged and led in New 
York City, and it would tax our resources to the utmost. It would be a great discour- 
tesy to hold such a Convention unless it could be presided over by J. Wiikes Booth as 
Chairman, with the assistance of Jfaine, Atzerott, Sarratt, Blackburn, and others equally 
dist,inguished, as Vice-Presidents. So many of these have reached their fiual destina- 
tion, and the rest are so plainly on the way, that it would save a heavy expense in lights 
and fuel to wait till they have all got there. We have no desire to be present at the 
Convention, or to send any of our reporters. But we venture to predict that for the 
first time in the history of Democratic Conventions, cold water will be in lively demand 
and the supply \imile(i.'"—TriImne, October 30, 1867. 

" The great Gorilla of the Democracy is filling the air with his demoniacal howliiig, and 
beating his breast like a tremendous drum, to express his savage joy over the tirs^ full 
meal he has had after years of enforced abstinence. Eat your fill now, Gorilla, for you 
will never have another chance!" — Tribune, November 11, 1857. 

What H, G. Knew ahoiit the Democratic Parti/ in 1868. 

" In those dark years w^hen the slaveholder ruled from Boston to New Orleans, the 
Democratic party cheerfully wore his collar, and wheu he fell from power it still howled 
and barked at the heels of the nation throughout the long aad agonizing struggle lor 
life. This virtue at least it had — the fidelity with which an ill-treated cur sometimes 
follows a brutal master, aad it is faithful yet. The slaveholder is dead, but over his 
grave the Democratic party whines and raves in the hope that some miracle may yet 
work his resurrection. Loviug the dead master so well, it hates the litjerated slave. 
Look for the purpose which controls it:J actioa, and it may be fouud only in its mad, 
unreasoning, inhuman hatred of the negro. Take this away, aud the p-irty falls to 
pieces. Without the inspiration of hate Democracy becomes no more than a disorgan- 
ized faction, a superaantiated rioter, aud a sturdy beggar for office. If the colored race 
in this country had ever given cause for hatred, some excuse, however slight, might be 
m ide for their persecutors. Bat they have committed no oflence. In Slavery they 
carried the virtue of patience to au excess which made it almost a crime. Aliens and 
outcasts and pariahs. Christians who were forbidden to read the Bible, forbidden to 
marry, yet ceudemned to see their women held in concubinage by their masters ; count- 
ed as men and sold as beasts — this people mutely endured uaparalelled oppression for 
generations without striking a blow. Here, in the North, the colored race has always 
been law-abiding and orderly; it is only in the large cities that they become corrupted to 
any great extent, and even in New York there is no case known,iu which they hung 
Democrats upon lanlp posts, or burned down asylums for Democratic orphans. Patience 
and fortitude and forgiveness greater than theirs the world has never seen, aud in a 
Christian n ttion there has never been a meaner spectacle than their persecution. Pitiful, 
indeed, is the political party whose solitary great principle is hatred of the negro, and 
whose chief aim is to keep him in ignorance and bondage." — Tribune, February G, 18G8. 

" What is a Conservative ? We ask the question with some interest, because we no- 
tice that Mr. A. Belmont, banker, and chairman of the Democratic National Commit- 
tee, h.13 issued an invitation to all Conservatives to join with the Democrats in the next 
Fourth of July Convention in this city. Chalk we understand to be chalk, and cheese 
we have good reason for believing to be cheese ; but that chalk is cheese, or that cheese 
is chalk, we stand prepared unfliuctlingly to deny. A Conservative Democrat is an 
incarnate contradiction. Conservatism halts, hesitates, trembles, doub'ts, and turns its 
gaze wistfully to the past. Democracy advances, is confident, is bold, is decided, and 
looks hopefully to the future; but a Conservative Democrat must have one eye at lea'^t 
in the b ick of his head, weeping for extinct despotisms, while with the other eye in 
his forehead he marks the signs of human advancement. It would be a very curious 
physiological circumstance if it should turn out that Mr. Belmont's delegates, the Dem- 
ocratic Conservatives and the Conservative Democrats, resemble each other in having 



About the Democratic Party. 23 

both eyes in the back regions, exhibiting something of ' a hungry look ' by reason of 
their neio^hborhood to the phrenological organ of aiimentiveneas. " — Tribune, April 20, 
1808. 

What H. G. Knew about the Democratic Party in 1869. 

" There have been men and women who, rejecting as fable the whole record of his- 
torical Christianity, have held general meetings for the vindication and the promulga- 
tion of their incredulity; but we have never heard of any Intidel Convention which 
had the audacity to appropriate to itsown skeptical uses the hallowed birth of our Saviour. 
^Ve oQer this illustration of the absurdity of a Democratic National Convention on ilie 
Fourth of July in no irreverent spirit. It will occur, undoubtedly, to mauy serious 
miods, and it naturally springs from the self-suggesting analogy between religious and 
political apostacy. lis extraordinary misnomer, under which it doggedly mjiiutains 
the most aristocratic of notions, while it is thforetic*l]y devoted to ihe cause of uni- 
versal freedom, having become a device too stale to deceive even babes and sucklinas, 
the Democratic party has resorted to the ingenious expedient of meeting upon the 
present anniversary, and fancying that windy professions of patriotism will not be too 
severely criticised upon a day sacred to l^xh^n^y —Tribune, July 4, 1868. 

What H. G. Knew about the Democratic Party in 1871. 

"We learn with pleasure that quite a number of the Democratic leaders have resolved 
to push B. Gratz Brown, the new Governor of Missouri, for next President. We do 
not sfe how they could better this choice. Gratz isn't much to look at, but he has ideas 
in his head, and is rather honest for a successful politician. Ho was a good second rate 
Editor, makes a fair speech, is a radical Free-Trader, and can get some negro as well as 
some white Republican voles; whereas any known Copperhead will get none of either 
but those who can't help themselves. If the Democrats were in the ascendant, they 
wouldn't touch him with a ten-foot pole — that we all understand — but they are the 
under dog at present, and must resort to strategy to get uppermost. We assure tbem 
that they might select a much worse candidate than Gratz Brown; and since he has 
just helped Frank Blair into the Senate, we assume that the Blair family will go their 
length for him. They musn't attempt to put him off with the Vice-Presidency, for he 
has already a better place; but if they will suppress their Ku-Klux, put themselves on 
their good behavior for two years, run Gratz Brown for Prtsident, make a noise about 
the Tariff in ihe next Congress, but take care not to pass any bill till they get control 
of the White Ilouse, they have a chance to win the next election. If they choose to run 
a clean Copperhead ticket, on a platform that ignores' the last ten years of our country's 
history, ihe road is a brcaten one, and they ought, by this time, to knou^ whitiier it leads 
them. We can but give them good counsel; they can take it or not at the same 
price." — Tribune, February G, 1871. 

What H. G. Knew aboiit the Democrats in January, 1867, 

" Suffice it that, as the result of a most anxious, intent contemplation of the history of our 
frreat strucrgle, we do most undoubtingly believe that the Democrats, as a party, were not a 
heart for tl,e Union in i's terrible struggle wiih Secession — that they did not rejoice at its 
triumphs nor deplore its defeats. \Ve do not say that a majority of them wished tlie Union per- 
manently dissolved : we know, and have often stated, that they did not: but they believed that 
Union defeats and disasters would discredit and destroy the Republican ascendancy, and that 
they would thereupon come into power and coax the Rebels back into the Union by all manner 
of concessions and prostrations to the Slave Power. They h.ad no notion that the Union could 
(or should) be saved otherwise than by letting the slaveholders have their way in it; and the 
road to this, they realized, lay not through Union victories but the contrary." — Tribune, Jan- 
uary 28, 1867. 

What H. G. Knew about the Democrats in October, 1867. 

" Tf there were neither a newspaper nor a common school in the country, the Democratic party 
would be far stronger than it is. Neither elementary instruction nor knowledge of transpiring 
events is needed to teach the essential articles of the Democratic creed: '"Love men and hate 
riggers.' The less one learns and knows, the more certain he is to 'vote the reg'lar ticket 
from A to Izzard.' But Republicanism rests on a radically different basis, and is sustained by 
wholly diverse considerations. It lives by Intelligence ; it dies in the inky, stifling atmosphere 
of Ignorance. Canvass almost any township in the land, and distinguish those who take from 
those who fail to take a newspaper, and you will find that two-thirds of those who take vo'.e 
Republican, wdiile three-fourths of those who read nothing but a chance paper picked up for a 
few moments in a bar-room vote the Democratic ticket, and will not be persuaded to touch r.n-- 
other." — Tribune, OctoheT\\,\'&%1. 



/ 

24 What Horace Greeley Knows. 

What H. G. Knew about the Demoorats in March, 18G8. 

"When the Democratic orators talk of forgiveness we are ready to listen to them, for for- 
giveness is a manlj and a Christian duty ; but when they ask us to toroet, they make a demand 
to which, without eradicating our manhood, it is impossible to accede. Is there anything to 
be ashamed of in the struggles of the Republic to govern itself that the citizens of the Republic 
shouhl banish ihem from recollection ? Was it a good deed to rebel? Was it a bad one to 
encounter and suppress rebellion?" — Tribune, March 3, 1868. 

What H. G. Knew about the Democrats in August, 1869. 

"The question now arresting the attention of the public, 'Is the Democratic party alive or 
(lead V is susceptible of opposite answers, according as it is understood. It is the old perplexity 
of Giles Scroggfins on awaking from a perplexity of Alcoholic obfuscation: 'Now be I Giles Scmg- 
pins, or ben'tl? If I be Giles Scroggins I have lost four good oxen; if I ben't, I have found a cart.' 
Ou the whole, we judge that the Uei#ocracj of 18'72 will remind the country of that of 1868 
by contrast rather than by similarity. It will evince a youihful friskiness and contempt for 
oil fugyisin, and insist that it is thoroughly posted as to the time of day. We shall not be 
surprised to find it nominating a colored Vice-President and clamorous for a conciliation and 
fiaternization of all races and castes. There are no more zealous Christians than are made of 
veteran reprobates when they do get converted, and we expect to see the Republicans left away 
in the back ground whenever Democracy shall see its account in a zealous and swee[)ing asser- 
tion of the inalienable Rights of Man. And, so far from objecting to this, we shall only insist 
tliat they do not claim that they abolished Slavery and put down the Rebellion, overcoming the 
most strenuous resistance of the Republicans. That would be going a trifle too far, and any- 
thing short of it we shall endure with serene patience and bland equanimity." — Tribune, 
August 31, 1869. 



What H. G. Knew about the Democrats in November, 1870. 

"The next Congress is an affliction to those confiding Democrats who innocently looked for 
a majority. To break the force of their disappointment, The World parades a table, wherein 
it counts notliing but Democratic gains iu the States yet to hold eleciions, claims Democrats 
where Republicans are elected, magnifies to ludicrous dimensions the Revenue lieform diver- 
sion, and caps the climax by counting all the Democrats as Free Traders." — Tribune, November 
17, 1870. 



What H. G. Knew about the Democratic Party in March, 1871. 

"The Democratic party of to-day, is simply the Rebellion seeking to achieve its essential 
purposes wiihinand through the Union. A victory which does not enable it to put its feet on the 
necks ot the Black race seems to the bulk of its adherents not worth having. Its heart is just 
where it was w hen it regarded Slavery and the Constitution as two names for one thing. It hates 
the (jenerals who led iha Union Armies to Victory, ani rarely misses a chance to disparage 
them. It clings to that exaggerated notion of State Rights which makes them the shield of all 
manner of wrongs and abuses. It lakes counsel of its hates even more than of its aspirations, and 
will be satisfied with no triumph that does notresult in the expulsion of all active, earnest Re- 
publicans from the South." — Tribune, March 23, 1871. 



What II. G. Knew about the Democratic Tarty in April, 1871. 

"To ' Love rum and hate niggers' has so long been the essence of the Democatic faith 
that the cooler, wiser heads of the i)arty vainly spend their strength in efforts to lift it out of 
the rut in which they plainly see that it can only run to perdition. While Slavery endured, 
nogro-hate was an element of positive strength in our political contests, so that the Constitu- 
tional Conventions of this and other free States were usually carried by the Democrats on the 
strength of appeals to the coarser and baser whites to 'Let the nigger know l^is place." — Tri- 
bune, April 7, 1871. 



What H. G. Knew about the Democratic Party in September, 1871. 

"The world will be moved to mirth if it reads the manifesto of the National Democratic 
Executive Committee disowni'ig the Democratic paternity of the pamphlet, ' Conctssion, or 
how the Lost Cause May be Regained, and the Independence of ihe South Secured.' Nobody 
eup'to^ed th it the National Democratic Committee had authorized the issue of the pamphlet; 
but it is Democr^^iic in tone and temper for all that, and itspeaks the honest sentiments, no 
doubt, of thousands of Southern Democrats, who will, in defiance of repeated winks ami nods 
of disapproval from the Democratic Managers, persist in talking about the p )3sibilitic3 of the 
Lost Cause at the most unseemly tim?3. Bat the surgestion that the Radicals have concocted 
this precioui farrago of nonsense and treasoa for eleclioneering purposes is quite as ludicrous as 
the vaunt that the De'tiocracy is the only party that cxn ' briat about ret irn to honesty and 
consiitational laws.' This last phrase is exquisite fooling." — Tribune, September 6, 1871. 



WHAT HORACE GREELEY KNOWS 

ABOUT 

Leading Democrats at the North and at the South, especially those w1io 

noio Profess to he His Especial Friends, and 

His Devoted Supporters, 

dtc, &c., &c. 



What H. G. Knows about John Qaincy Adams, of Massachusetts. 

" Mr. John Quincy Adams, son of his father, grandson of his grandfather, and the 
small grandson of his great-grandfather, has nevertheless the wisdom to perceive that 
■what the Democratic party in Massachusetts, as well as throughout the country, needs/ 
is an act of oblivion. He wants the record of the party shaken off; wants it understood 
that Reconstruction and Negro Suffrage are definitely settled; wants to fight the ap- 
proaching battle in Massachusetts on tinancial questions and the Liquor Law; and alto- 
gether shows how admirably he could get along if people would only remember and for- 
get in accordance with his directions. Of course, the young man was nominated again 
for Governor of Massachusetts. That, we believe, is the regular performance. It is 
noticeable, however, that the platform on which he is placed begins by slapping him iu 
the face. It announces that the Democratic party of Massachusetts have no new theo«.. 
ries to advance. The people will take them at their word, and hold Mr. John Quincy: 
Adams, son, grandson, and small grandson, to the test on the old theories, concerning 
which the party has been brought to judgment before."— Tribune, August 25, 1869. 



What H. G. Knows about Gen. Beauregard, of Louisiana. 

" Mr. G. Pierre Toutaut Beauregard has issued another proclamation, not exactly in 
the famous ' Beauty and Booty ' style, but as near to it as the change of circumstancei 
will permit. At one time, says G. P. T. B., ' in order to escape the hatred of northera- 
fanatics, I thought of seeking, a refuge in Brazil, but the generous sentiments expressed 
by President Johnson toward the Southern States have persuaded me to remain in Lou- 
isiana.' We are not sure, but we think President Johnson should suspend his generous 
sentiments long enough to allow this foolish braggaft to complete his meditated exile. 
We are not in favor of colonization or expatriation on any considerable scale, for the 
South needs workers, but the Beauregard Bourbons will never work, will never do any-, 
thing but blow the expiring embers of that discord they helped kindle, and the sooner 
they go the better for this country. We have no special ill-will to Brazil, but if Mr. 
Beauiegard should like to go there, we will contribute something toward furnishing him 
a free passage." — Tribune, December 14, 1865. 



What H. G. Knows about " Jew" Bankers and Aug. Belmont, of New York. 

" The letter of our Paris correspondent gives further accounts of the Jew Bankings 
House opened by the Democratic United States Charge, Mr. Belmont, at the Hague. 
The various Rothschilds are severally citizens of the various countries where they re- 
side, and accordingly it would be treason for any one openly to take up the Russian ' 
loan, though considered a profitable job. In this dilemma, Mr. Belmont's loan shop'"'' 
comes into action. Our Correspondent gives us an account that the Baron Rothschild, 
of Frankfort, was closeted for two weeks with Mr. Belmont at the Hague, and again at 
Frankfort, and added to this, that the Russian loan has been taken in the name and 
through the agency of Mr. Belmont, our Charge aforesaid, for bis relatives and patrons,.. 
the Rothschilds! To these facts we call the attention of the Administration, suggestinffi 
the immediate and thorough investigation of the charges in question, and if they shouldi' 
prove true, as there is every reason to believe, the prompt recall of Air. Belmont; or if ' 
he wishes to continue his money-shop abroad, let him do it separately from the Charg6- 
ehip and the sanction of this Government. Has our foreign diplomacy touched bot- 
tom, or not? If not, what next?" — Tribune, October 2, 1856. 

25 



26. What Horace Greeley Knows 

What H. G. Knew about tJie late James Gordon Bennett. 

"Scotland, noted for its piety and industry, has given birth to the two among the 
greatest villians of modern times, Barke and Bennett. Burke, after killing some seventy 
people and selling their bodies, was hanged. Bennett was never hanged, but he is gib- 
beted as moral carrion swinging to and fro in the sight, and odious in the nostrils of 
humanity. He came to this country some twenty years ago, and immediately took the 
first rank through the daily press as a moral Thug. He attacked the timid, the gentle, 
the generous, and the forgiving. No innocence or courtesy was proof against his bru- 
tality. No amount of forgiveness or forbearance softened him. No extent of public 
service, no simplicity or purity of private life, no single-souled devotion to a great idea, 
ever softened his ruffianism. He lived on defamation, slander, obloquy, beastliness, 
lies. Of course such conduct could not go unscourged even in New York. If he had 
lived further South he would have been simply beaten to death or shot. Here he was 
eimply horsewhipped. Seven times in the public streets of this city was Bennett horse- 
whipped. Horsewhipped in open day, and the lash well laid on his morally scrofulous 
back. This does not include sundry kickings out of hotels which he received, or the 
crushing ceremony of a company leaving the table when he ventured to sit down among 
them." — Tribune, August 20, 1853. 

What H. G. Knew about the late T. H. Benton, of Missouri. 

*'Mr. Benton came into the Senate upon the admission of Missouri into the Union — 
1821 — and has been three times re-elected." * * * " In this fortune he has been fa- 
vored by the character of his constituency, forming the vanguard and skirmishers of 
Western progress, many of them relying on the documents he sends them for their po- 
litical information, and scarcely seeing any beside. He understands the art of speaking 
and legislating 'for Buncombe,' and his Preemption and Graduation projects are ex- 
actly calculated to extend and deepen his popularity on the wild prairies of Missouri. 
Around St. Louis he is better known. Of late years, however, he has hardly visited 
Missouri at all, remaining with his family near Washington from Session to Session, 
taking care to charge ample mileage for his constructive journeys back and forward — 
sometimes charging around by New Orleans in order to swell his emoluments by a round 
thousand. That such a man contrives to preserve a reputation among even a moderate 
portion of our countrymen is considerably less creditable than amazing. But, "Tis dis- 
tance lends enchantment to the view.' " — Tribune, June 1, 1842. 



What H. G. Knoios about Jeremiah S. Blach, of Pennsylvania. 
" Nor ought we here to overlook the terrible light just thrown, by the decision of the 
California Circuit Judges in the famous case of the New Almaden mines, upon Mr. 
Black's own connection with that business. As Attorney-General of the United States, 
Mr. Black, it now appears, has wantonly or maliciously devoted himself and employed 
all the moral and diplomatic power of the Government for years to deprive certain 
private persons of their just rights in a great mining property, and to blacken their 
characters in charges of forgery and fraud,' now solemnly thrown back upon the Gov- 
ernment itself by its own Circuit Judges. The details of the Attorney-General's pro- 
ceedings in this case would be incredible, were they not set forth in documents at- 
tested by himself, with an audacity or an insensibility to shame almost beyond parallel. 
To submit the name of an officer, whose ministerial record bears such brands upon its 
face, to the American Senate for confirmation as a member of our highest judicial tri- 
bunal, is surely a flight of insolence so extraordinary as to partake of some of the most 
captivating traits of the imagination." — Tribune, February 20, 1861. 



What H. G. Knows about Francis P. Blair, Jr., of 3Iissouri. 

*' Frank Blair is a violent, versatile, and able adventurer, with just enough of the 
fool in his composition to be dangerous to his own party. He has an extraordinary 
talent for making himself uncomfortable to his friends and serviceable to his enemies. 
He will be a valuable auxiliary to the Republicans in the Senate, and he can do us a 
still greater kindness by accepting The Woj'ld's invitation to become a national leader of 
the Democracy. Wherever a stupendous political blunder is possible, we can depend 
upon Frank Blair to make it. Nor are the vagaries of The World less startling than 
those of Mr. Blair. That paper is an adventurer in Journalism, just as Blair is an ad- 
venturer in politics. It 48 not the consistent advocate of principles, but a restless spec- 
ulator, watching the fluctuations of the political market — a bear to-day, a bull to-mor- 
row — always trying to anticipate, by just a day or so, the changes in the current, and 
always making a mistake in its calculations. The repudiation of Blair in 18C8 was a 
commercial venture which did not pay." — Tribune, January 31, 1871. 



About Leading Deinocrats. 2*7 

•' Gen. Frank Blair knows his people better than the dilettanti politicians who imag- 
Lne they make cauipaigas and public opinion in the Manhattan Club. 

" The Democratic party has no reason but one to exist, and that is the blind haste and 
ignorance of a solid and compact mass of the mourners of Slavery, allied with the 
Northern party of corruption and plunder. 

" The prosperous gentlemen who make their living out of this party would, doubtless, 
like well enough to wash their hands of such vulgar stains as come from midnight out- 
rage and murder. But if they attempt to cover up these infamies by sneering apologies 
or dishonest silence, they must assume their full responsibility. In the lines we have 
quoted lies the inevitable programme of the Democratic party for the next election. 
This malignant minorify lias not yet accepted the results of the war and of the legisla- 
tion that followed. The hucksters who make a trade of principles would not hesitate 
to cast their State secession record behind them, if they could gain anything by it. But 
the unrepentant marauders of the South, and their ignorant sympathizers of the West, 
will continue to dictate for them their platforms and their policy." — Tribune, February 
28, 1871. 

"A friend of Gen. F. P. Blair's has revived a letter, written by that gentleman in 
1865, to show that his respect for the Confederate heroes, which he manifested so 
offensively at the Long Branch banquet, is no new thing, but a feeling which he haa 
always cherished. The letter in question is one introducing a clergyman who proposed 
erecting a 'monumental cathedral' in honor of the rebel dead, and Mr. Blair saw 
' nothing to disprove, but much to admire in this effort to consummate [commemorate ?] 
their virtues of constancy and courage.' The clergyman's name is not given, but we 
presume he is the Rev. Mr. Rogese, of Memphis, well-known for some time as an ad- 
vanced ritualist, and now a Roman Catholic, whose project for a monumental cathe- 
dral attracted, about four years ago, a good deal of interest. Mr. Rogers proposed that 
the surviving friends of the confederate warriors should be allowed to erect in the 
church statues, memorial windows, tablets, &c., inscribed with the names of any indi- 
viduals whose deeds they chose thus to honor ; so that there was no reason why Booth, 
Wirz, or any other of the vilest agents of the secession conspiracy, might not receive a 
sort of canonization, and the gorgeous rays through tinted panes shed down upon the 
worshipers a reminiscence of treachery and murder." — Tribune, July 17, 1869. 



What H. G. Knows about the Blair Family, and of Judge Blair, of Maryland. 

"Mr. Montgomery Blair is perhaps the most conspicuous and illustrious Washington 
Politician now living. His triumphs have been the wonder of this generation. Under 
Mr. LincolH's administration he was a Cabinet ofBcer. Another member of his family 
was in the Cabinet, a third was an Admiral in the Navy, in charge of the most profit- 
able blockading station in the service, while a brother was in the Army, or rather oscil- 
lating between the Army and the Speakership of the House. If Mr. Seymour had been 
elected we have no doubt that the whole Administration would have been transferred 
to Silver Springs, and the multitudinous Blairs would have taken the Government on 
contract. The election of Grant would seem to have put an end to this pleasing anti- 
cipation, and to remand the whole Blair family back to the appalling necessity of work-, 
ing for their daily bread. When Andrew Johnson became President he was welcomed 
by the Blairs and the Washington Politicians, who brought him assurances of the ' sup- 
port 'of the Democratic partj, called him a 'second Jackson,' promised him unani- 
mous renomination, and jourilsyed to Philadelphia to indorse him. They so preyed 
upon the vanity and the ambition of the poor man that they dragged him over the coun- 
try like a travelling circus. No man ever demeaned himself more than President John- 
son. No man ever kept a bargain with more sincerity, and if any President ever de- 
served ' the support of the Democracy,' Mr. Johnson did, in return for his 'support' 
of the Blair family. But the Convention met, and instead of receiving the ' kingdoms 
of the world and the glory of them,' the confiding 'second Jackson' was curtly dis- 
missed with a sort of cold, shivering, contemptuous support, and the honors were 
divided between the unpopular Seymo'ur and a hungry Blair." — Tribune, 1865. 



What H G. Knoios about Alderman Boole, of New York. 
"Aid. Francis J. A. Boole was yesterday nominated and confirmed as City Inspector, 
vice Daniel E. Delavan. Mr. Boole is a man of decided ability and energy, and has the 
best opportunity to make himself popular and honored that man ever had. If he will 
only clean our streets thoroughly and keep them clean at a reasonable cost for the next 
two or three years, he may have thereafter his choice of the offlcea within the gift of oixr 
citizens." — Tribune, June 23, 1863. 



28 What Horace Greeley Knows 

What H. G. Knows about Jesse D. Bright, of Kentucky. 

"If anything could be more impudent than the address of Mr. Jesse D. Bright to the 
Democratic Convention of Kentucky it would be the assurance of a body which makes 
even the faintest pretense of loyalty to the United States in choosing such a man as its 
permanent President. It suits the purpose of the Democratic party just now to cry 
out, ' Let the South come back;' yet not content witli doing all iulheir power to re- 
tard reconstruction, they must select as a standard-bearer one of the most conspicuous 
of the Northern promoters of secession. They profess a sudden veneration for the 
Constitution; yet this man, who presided over their councils in one of the chief States of 
the Union, and whom they have nominated for a Presidential elector, was expelled from 
the United States Senate for trying by armed force to tear the Constitution to pieces. 
They have effrontery to ask for the votes of the soldiers and sailors, of wounded vete- 
rans, of the men who perilled everything in fighting for the flag; yet Mr. Bright de- 
clares in his speech at Frankfort, '■ I was opposed to the war from beginning to the end.* 
Mr. Bright has made a mistake. If he has forgotten the cause of his expulsion fiom 
Congress, the loyal people have not forgotten it." — Tribune, February 29, 1868. 



What H. G. Knows about R. G. Breckinridge, of Kentucky. 

"'Gen. Combs,' said Breckinridge to Leslie, awhile ago, ' I consider that you have 
done more for your party and received less return for it ttian any man living.' ' Just 
the opposite of your case,' responded the General; ' I judge that you have done less for 
yowr party and got more for it than any otiier live man.' And they were both pretty 
nearly right. Mr. Breckinridge delivered in the House a very good eulogy on Mr. Clay, 
and has probably made some good stump speeches, but they do not seem to bear print- 
ing. He made one in '57 or '58 on Kansas and tlie Lecomptou scheme, which was not 
only bad, but poor, and another on ' Southern Rights,' in Frankfort, last Winter, which 
was distinguished by every trait of the worst effusions of the Fire-Eaters except ability 
and eloquence. Unless we sadly misjudge, he is destined to be badly beaten in his own 
Bt&tQ."— Tribune, June 25, 1860. 

What H. G. Knows about Erastus Brooks's "New York Express." 

" We have charged The New York Express with treachery to the partj'^ it pretends to 
support, and it has not dared to respond. It has picked passages out of our proofs of the 
treachery to which it makes some sort of reply; but to the accusation itself, it silently 
pleads guilty. That paper professes to support the 'American' party, and is daily egg- 
ing on that party to nominate a State Ticket, which it virtually promises to support, 
while all the time it is doing its utmost to elect, not the 'American ' ticket, but that of 
the Slave Democracy. It is to help that party in its desperate struggle for power that 
it pretends to be 'American,' while all its indications and arguments, its leanings audita 
libels, look to securing a triumph for the New York allies of the Border Ruffians. 

" We deprecate no fair, manly opposition. We support no principle, no measure, no 
candidate in whose behalf we do not court the most rigorous scrutiny. We would have 
all men free as air to vote against us, if they do not think with us. But let us have civ- 
ilized, not savage, antagonism in politics. Let each display his true colors, and stand 
orfall with them, as the public judgment shall decree. But this displaying the flag of 
one party in order to win success for another is not honest. It is not the manly frank- 
ness of a patriot, but the cunning dodge of a pirate. Let us see who consent to be the 
decoy candidates (>f this unworthy juggle." — Tribune, September 1\, 1857. 

What H. G. Knotos about James Brooks, of New York. 

"No Stonewall Jackson, no park of Rebel artillery, could do such deadly harm to 
the Union cause as would a general belief in the charges of James Brooks, the Member 
"from the VHIth, impeaching the integrity and loyalty of the President of the United 
Bt&les."— Tribune, May 12, 1863. 

" The Hon. James Brooks lately made a speech at a public supper party in this city, 
•which should have been preserved as a touching exposition of Democratic mournfulnesa 
by the art of a stenographer, but that Nemesis of unwary politicians not having been 
present on the occasion, we can only snatch a fragment from unmerited oblivion. Mr. 
Brooks not being irrigated with wine, and his wits therefore not being out, pathetically 
described the havoc done during the last few dreadful years by tlie Republican icono- 
clasts, and insisted that the first duty of the Democracy in this hour of triumph was 
to enthrone their ugly idols again and fall down in fetish worship as of old. But letting 
his thoughts wander beyond the little realm ruled from Albany he became painfully 



About Leading Democvats. 29 

conscious that the most precious of the idols is irreparably smashed. ' Let us,' said Mr. 
Brooks, ' have everythiue as nej.rly as possible as before;' bat I suppose it is impossible 
to re-establish slavery.' His tone betrayed his bitter regret that the idol is shattered be- 
yond the possibiUty of Democratic repair, and his auditors plainly inferred that he 
would engage in the work of sticking the fragments together if he imagined it would 
be of any use. We rejoice that we can ofler Mr. Brooks some consolatiDU in his sore 
distress by bidding him reflect that he is himself sufficient proof that the leopard has 
but changed his spots; the blacks are indeed irrevocably free, but the white democrats 
are yet slaves." — TribuTie, January 11, 1870. 



"Mr. James Brooks sneers at the suggestion that Protection tends to reduce Prices, 
just as though he had sat at the feet of Calhoun and John Rmdolph, rather than of 
Clay and George Evans. And yet this same Brooks exalts over the fact that tlie en- 
hancement last year of the duties on Copper had been followed by a marked deoline in 
the price of that metal, just as though it did not prove the very proposition which he 
deems so preposterous. No man ever before confuted his own fundamental assump- 
tion with such profound unconsciousness."— T'/'i'Jiiftg, April 3, 1870. 



What H. G. Knoivs about James Buchanan, of Pennsylvania. 

"If we, too, might lapse into Mr. Quincy's train of desponding reflection, we would 
appeal to the young men of the country, standing now in the morning of life, strong, 
cultured, and unselfish, hoping for public honors, but still aiming at public usefulness. 
We would say : Do you wish to be President ? Look at the old man who dreamed ia 
his youth, and who has found in the sober certainty of waking bliss only bitterness \ 
Who, in .securing the stool for which," through so many long years, he panted, sealed 
his own shame, and who has won at last only tbe contempt of his enemies, and the 
falsehood of his friends ! In these, the stormy times of the Republic, he expires a 
driveler, and only not a show because nobody cares to see him. Tried and wanting ; 
trusted and faithless ; sworn and forsworn ; old without veneration ; unfortunate with- 
out pity ; his task unperformed ; his duty undone ; his name a by- word ; his existence a re- 
proach, and his reputation a stench, he counts the hours, and awaits the day which will see 
him, to the joy of the good, for the last time totter down the steps of the White House, 
to crawl into night and darkness, and there vainly to beg of the Muse of History, 
which can ill spare such an example, immunity from being remembered." — Tribune. 
February 21, 18(31. 



What H. G. Knew about John C. Calho?/,n, of South Carolina. 

" Mr. Calhoun is a very able man, but Slavery, which includes meaner intellects in 
one general debauchery, did not spare even his. He was incapable of saying what he 
did not believe, but he was incapable also, and very often, of distinguishing between a 
Bound and a sophistical premise. His temper, we think, was not very unequable; and 
yet'he was sometimes betrayed in the heat of debate aud through the poverty of his 
resources into saying things ,which, coming from other lips, would have been laughable; 
The vice of paradox had pretty complete possession of his miud, aud kept it without 
any violation of natural laws; for those who act continually upon the defensive, and 
plant themselves upon solecisms, have no resort but strategy, aud that of no high or 
scientilic character. Thus Mr. Calhoun could not have beea thinking either accurately 
or calmly when he said to Mr. John Qaincy Alams lUat if the discussion of the slave 
question should produce a dissolution of the Union, which he thought not improbable, 
' the South would, from necessity, be compelled to form an alUauce, olFensive and de- 
fensive, with Great Britain.' This remark, which was an exceediugly weak one vvhen 
it wag made in 1820, and long before the question of the Abolition of Slavery had been agi- 
tated in the Imperial Parliament, would still less bear sober repetition to-day; and yet 
this childish presumption, which is half a threat and half a will hope, the delusion of 
despair, is repeated in a parrot-like way by the present feeble generation of slaveown- 
ers, who, catching also at another notion, still less coherent, of Mr. Calhoun's talk of 
the necessity of a Southern 'military community,' and in ascordiuce with this prattle 
organize little militia companies which oace a year shoot at a target aud get as valorous 
and as drunk as ever Alexander the Great was." — Tribune. 



What H. G. Knows about Lewis D. Campbell, of Ohio. 

"When the XXXIVth Congress fii'st conveaed, eirly in Daae noar, 1855, the organi- 
zation of the House was impeded for two months or over by iaajility to uuir.e a dozen 
or so of its members upon any candidate for Speaker for whom sincere Republicans 



30 What Horace Greeley Knoivs 

could vote. Scott Harrisou lias died since, as have Dunn, Valk, Broome, Puller, and 
perhaps Moore; and now Lew. Campbell turns up a Democratic Senator in Ohio, with 
Ed. Ball a ditto Representative; he having played alike role in the House. Ball turned 
out some years ago; Campbell sank gradually through the mire of Johnsonism into tho 
pit which now enslimes him. Considering his Anti-Slavery professions in the past, 
Lew. is probably the most abandoned, shameless renegade since Benedict Arnold." — 
Tribune, October 19, 1869. 

"What an awful thing that Congressional Globe is! Here is Col. L. D. Campbell run- 
ning in Ohio, as a ' Democrat,' for Congress, and somebody has been looking up his old 
speeches in the House, in which he said, more than once, that, ' the Democratic party 
had been on both sides of every political question which has been agitated since tlie 
fcJuudation of the Government,' on ' the tariff and the currency' especially. Moreover, 
the resurrectionists have uaearthed not only the Colonel's Know-Nothing speeches, but 
also a fine assortment of anti-Slavery orations, of the fiercest and most benevolent de- 
scription. They call him in Ohio ' the ready-made combination candidate,' and seem 
to think, as he represents both sides so beautifully, that there is no necessity of run- 
ning anybody else in his District." — Tribune, September 3, 1871. 



W/iat H. G. Knew ahout Lewis Cass, of Michigan. 

"Mr. Cass enjoys the high honor of standing at the head of a class. This is the 
political mock-auctioaeers of our times — men who keep the red flag flying continually, 
and perpetually expose their brass and pinchbeck, declare them to be pure gold, and 
try to impose upon everybody. He is the head and front of the whole breed of dough- 
faces, of whieh it is to be hoped this generation will see the last; but perhaps not. It 
is hard to ei'adicate an entire breed, especially when it is bad. Foul weeds need per- 
petual uprooting. The signs of the times, however, denote that most of them will be 
brought to the stake for their crimes. Let us, at least, hope so. If we only get rid of 
the troublesome rascals, and bring the Korth and South face to face on the Slavery 
question we should have peace and harmony. The question would then be settled 
once for all. But the doughfaces and compromisers thrust in their time-serving inter- 
ference and make all the mischief. The Lord deliver us from the whole doughface 
race — timid, hare like, trucldiug, spongy, prevaricating, backing out, selling out crew. 
If such a thing existed as a polilicai jew-shop, the whole tribe could not be pawned for 
enough to replace the wig of the venerable head of the order upon whose merits we 
have descanted." — Tribune, Ftbruary 10, 1855. 



What H. G. Knows ahout what Chief Justice Chase did at the Impeachment trial. 

" The man who has done more than all others, unless in a pecuniary way, to secure 
this result, is Chief Justice Chase. lie decided the vote of Mr. Van Winkle. He did 
his utmost — happilj'^ in vain — to carry off Mr. Sprague. We doubt that Mr. Hendefson 
would have voted as he did but for the Chief Justice's exertions. Those exertions saved 
Andrew Johnson from the verdict which we feel that he has worked hard aad success- 
fully to deserve."— 2^/vi«ifte, May 18, 1808. 



What II. G. Knew ahout J. M. Cavanaugh, of Montana. 

"Here is the most charming illustration of the beauties of the franking privilege that 
we have seen yet. Tde Hon. J. M. Cavanaugh, Delegate from Montana, franks the 
printed circulars of a Washington tavern-keeper. This beats the Hon. James Brooks, 
who used to frank the handbills of a chicken show. Nobody was uncharitable enough 
to suppose that Mr. Brooks was recompensed with prize poultry or a basket of eggs; 
but when it comes to advertising a tavern, the best friends of Mr. Cavanaugh cannot 
help wondering whether he pays full price for his board, or has the free run of the bar. 

Is it possible that the enterprising host of the Hotel charges all Mr. C ivanaugh's 

drinks to the ' postage account,' or anything of that sort f— Tribune, March 37, 1871. 



What H. G. Knows ahout John Cochrane, of New York. 

" The Hon. John Cochrane, M. C, made a speech at a Democratic meeting in Brook- 
lyn on Monday evening, wherein he charged the responsibility of Old Brown's madness 
distinctly on Gov. Seward and the Rspublicans! Tliey, argued the Hon. orator, have 
been plotting to array one section of the Union against the other, and here is the result.' 
Far different, he argued, was the position and action of his own party. ' We, as mem- 
bers of the Democratic party,' says Mr. John Cochrane, 'never have understood that we' 



About Leading Democrats. 31 

are to be arrayed against our fellow-citizens of the South.' * * * ' We Democratg, 
who have alwaiji maintained the opposite side of the issue, must hold our adversaries to 
the consequences of their treachery.'" — Tribune, October 2Q, 1859. 

" Mr. John Cochrane has made a little speech ia the House on his own political history and 
lan^lraarks. It was very vat^ue in its statements, tender in its allusions, and pervaded by 
a desperate anxiety to be funny. We ean state Mr. Cochrane's case even more briefly, and a 
great deal more frankly than he states it hhuself. Here is the naked truth: In 1847-8, Mr. 
Cochrane bolted from, fought against, and helped to beat the party he now supports, because it 
Stood upon the platform of Non-Interference, or Squatter Sovereignty, with regard to Slavery in 
the Territories. He then proclaimed, in every conceivable way, his devotion to the principle of 
Free Soil, or the exclusion by Con;rress of Slavery from the Territories. In 1859-60, thatsame 
National Democracy has changed its position on the Slavery question, and assumed one far more ex- 
treme and obnoxious than that i( held in 1847-8. It then held, at least throughout the Free States, 
that there could lie no law for Slavery in any Territory, until the People of that Territory see fit 
to enact one, and that Squatter Sovereignty was therefore iDCtter for the cause ofP'ree Labor than 
Congressional Sovereignty. Now that party indorses the Dred Scott decision, and its Chief de- 
clares that this decision makes alt Federal territory Slave Territory, and denies to the people of 
rach or aay Territory any control over the matter. They must protect Slavery whether they 
like it or not. They cannot exclude or abolish it until their Territory shall become a State. 
This is the doctrine to-day held out, not only by the President and Cabinet, but hy a majority 
of the Democrats ia Congress — the doctrine of the party which John Cochrane does his best to 
uphold. Is he not a double-dyed apostate? And is there on the wide earth one man who be- 
lieves that he would have so ' turned his back on himself,' had he not found this his readiest 
road to office and power?" — Tribune, January 7, 18G0. 

" After it had been thought best that John Cochrane should retire from tlje military service, 
his voice and vote were still given to the party whose triumplis were not hailed with cheers at 
Richmond nor along the lines of the rebel armies. Hence he was two years since uominaied and 
elected Attorney-General by the Union Party uf our State. But a fresh election appro ichts and 
he is not renominated — perhaps because no delegate to the Union convention happened to think 
of it — possibly, because rumors were afloat that he was already plowing with all manner of 
questionable heifers. Though he had uot yet been siimed over preparatory to swallowing by 
John Van Curen, it was instinctively felt that he was getting ready to go down easv. Not 
being offered a fresh nomination on our side and not having changed his politics for nearly if 
not quite four years. Gen. Cochrane seems to have concluded that it was high time for a somer- 
sault. Perhaps it was. 

"But Gen. Cochrane can deceive neither himself nor others. Right well does he know that lie 
is deserting and betraying the cause of univer.ial freedom. Right well is he- aware that he is 
dealing falsely, cruelly by the humble and imperilled four millions whom he was among the 
firsc to summon to pour out theii bK od in defence of the Union. No matter what protests and 
reservations he may see fit to make. Gen. Cochrane, like Gen. Slocum, Judge Grover, aud John 
W. Edmonds, after having summoned the blacks to our aid in a vital emergency, now whistles 
them down the wind, remits them unprotected to the tender mercies of thosd who think 'a 
nigger is good in his place;' but that place is under the feet of the whites, and his true Gud-or- 
daiued position eternally that of a spurned, despised menial and drudge." — Tribune, October 
25, 1865. . ' 



What H. G. Knows about S. S. Cox, of Ohio — New York. 

"Sunset Cox, who has been called in to aid the sinking canso of the Democracy in New York, 
was speaking in Ohio on the late Presidential canva.=s. Hj ;;loried in the name of Copperhead, 
and said it was a Copperhead that saved the n.uio ) of Israel in the wilderness — ^alluding to the 
lifting up of the brazen serpent in sight of the stricken people. A man shouted out in the 
crowd, 'Yes, but the Copperheads bit the nation, and no relief was gained till the chief Cupper- 
head was strung up on a pole in sight of the camp.' The orator subsided." — Tribune, Novem- 
ber 3, 1865. 

"Cox reminds us of the old Greek story of the donkey that devoured a rope of straw at one 
end while a foolish old woman twisted it industriously at the other. ' Is Cox like the donkey 
or the old woman ?' some reader may ask. Whichever you please. gentle inquirer! But 
whether he is asinine or anile, he is no better thin a Disuuionist of ihat worst of variety', which 
prattles upon Northern platforms instead ol' (ighiiugoa Southern fields. We confess that we 
do not see how Cox differs from Jeff. Davis except that Davis is the cleverer man of the two ; 
for we do not think that any one with the average modicum of brains would stultify himself 
and insult his hearers, through a whole evening, by aitemately blowing hot aud cold, by talk- 
ing loyalty and treason in thesainj breith, or by sjdu:;tively sighing for d"ar Virginia to coma 
liack, while he bid Massachusetts be off with herself instanter." — Tribune, Janatry 17, 1863. 



32 What Horace Greeley Knows 

What H. G. Knows about Caleb Cashing, of Massachusetts. 

"Mr. Caleb Gushing is about the hardest cushion ever pressed by the weight of public 
opinion. He is rhinoscerously tou<rh as to his outside, and inside he is lilie the apples of Sodom, 
full of ashes and not vevy finely sifted. We do not say that he is a bad man, but with our hat 
offand our best bovy, we pronounce him to be a bold one. A great many years as,'o, a certain 
Francis Bacon established the inductive philosophy in science ; in these recent days, Mr. Caleb 
Cushiog proposes to establish a philosophy of rascality. He believes the worse to be the better 
reason, and be is not afraid to say so. We respect him for his bravery, just as we respect the 
gentleman with the black cuticle and the barbed tail. He flies with immense boldness into the 
face and eyes of modern humanity. We have heard that he almost killed Miss Bremer by his 
exquisite and over-mastering preposterousness in favor of wickedness. The poor tourist was 
not used to that sort of thing. She could not understand the equitable side of Iniquity. She 
was bothered by Mr. Cushing's idea of Christian stealing, evangelical burglary, religious 
invasion, virtuous tyranny and humane subjugation. The truth is, Attorney Caleb is nothing 
if not paradoxical. He is a Democrat, and he therefore supports an aristocracy founded upoa 
the color of his fellow-creatures' skin. In his Utopia there would be noue but white folks. 
Caleb is also for progress. Therefore it is necessary- to consign every hutnan race, save one, to 
a perpetual terrestial perdition. And so, we suppose, if he felt himself interested in the 
Christian cause lie would advise nine human beings out of ten to remain infidels and idolaters; 
and that if his mind were utterly occupied by a passion for the predominance of mercantile 
honesty, he would distribute gratuitous thimbles to enterprising young gentlemen (the peaa 
included) and furnish the Peter Funks with any quantity of watches warranted not to go, and 
to be of the most unmistakable pinchbeck." — Tribune, Deceviber 1, 1857. 



What H. G. Knew about Jefferson Davis and the Democrats. 

"Mr. Jefferson Davis has recently added his rejoicings to those of the Democrats in 
Connecticut, and assured them of his sympathies. As he monrned when Grant drove 
Lee from Richmond, when Sherman carried the Stars and Stripes through the heart of 
the South, so he mourned over every Republican triumph at the polls ; and as he re- 
joiced wh,3n Union troops were routed at ChauccUorsvillc, he rejoices over the election 
of Mr. English. That is very natural; we do not expect the leader of the rebellion to 
exult in any success of the party which crushed it, but it is also very siguiflcaiit. 
Great must be the comfort felt by the Democrats to know that Mr. Davis believes ' the 
Connecticut election to be one of which that State may well be proud.' It is a compli- 
ment which we rejoice he never paid to the R'^publican party; ?^<? ask approval from 
the loyal people, and not from the men who sought to destroy the Union. Let the 
Conservatives and Democrats make the most of .Telf. Davis' pride in their Connecticut 
victory. We do not envy them the approval and alliance of a man who did his utmost 
to divide the Republic, and to establish an empire upon Slavery. We are perfectly 
content that Mr. Davis should be proud of the Democrats, and that the Democrats 
should be proud of Mr. Davis." — Tribune, April 10, 18G7. 



What H. G. Knows about Garrett Davis, of Kentuchy. 

"WShave two requests to ni:'l<e of Mr. Garrett Davis. The first is that in his admirable 
speeches and epistles he will let the aticicnt Romans alone, i)artly because we are tired of hear- 
ing of them, but particularly because it is evident that Mr. Garrett Davis knows very little 
about them. 

"The second request is that he will not be so tremendously solemn and so profoundly down 
in the mouth. As he knows so much about Sejanus, perhaps he has also heard of Ileraclitus, 
an old gentleman who used to be always blubbering in the streets of Ephesus. Well, Mr. 
Davis seems to tis to be a good deal like this water-cart philosopher ami founder of the vener- 
able sect of the Boo-IIoos. It is right enough to cry now and then, ;it the proper hour and in 
the proper place, but to be crying and croaking all the time seems to us to be a culpable waste 
of water and of wind. Mr. Davis, if he weeps too soon and too ranch, will be as dry-eyed in 
six months as a widow of five years' standing listening to the proposal of a new lover. Hear 
him : When Gen. Grant is thus elected (u h !) and inaugurated President (ah !) then will the 
revolution of our Government (alas !) be complete and permanent (ehew !) and a long dismal 
nioht of despotism (the Lord havemercj'on us !) will ' brood over the country ' (Three groans, 
fifty sighs, and one howl of reckless despair.) We must beg Mr. Davis not to give way to his 
emotions, which, however creditable they may be to his heart, might, if indulged in, result in 
cerebral congestion, to the infinite damage of his head. Perhaps, after all, if we may jud^e by 
the past. Congress will be able to defend itself ngaiust Grant, the crowntd. robed, euihronod, 
and sceptered tyrant, and to save ns from what Mr. Garrett Davis calls, with a smack of liiber- 
nian confusion, 'a permanent revolution 1' " — T<rihune, August 14, 1868. 



About Leading Democrats. 33 

What H. G. Knew about John D. D^'fiees as Public Printer. 

" Mr. Dtfrees runs the Pub. Doc. machiue To borrow a Wiishiugton tradition, as applied 
to tlie liead ot' tlie Agricultural Departuieut, t>je expenses of the Pub. Doc. mill ' have exceeded 
Ins most sanguine auiicipatious.' To meet the supply, the Congressmen have invented frank- 
ing mauhines, for the teeiniug Defrees poured out his Pub. Docs, so profusely that the readiest 
writers in the land could not frank.them. So we have Pub. Docs, flying on the wings of the 
mail to the East and VVtst, like migratory birds or locusts, settling upon every house and dwell- 
ing. The Pub Doc. phigue has been a blessiug to the trunk-makers and barbers and pastry- 
cooks." — Tribune, Jcaiuary 18, 1866. 

i 

What H. G. Knows about A. Delmar, of New York. 

"Mr. Delmar's statistical tables are wholly devoted to facts bearing on the foreign trade of 
the United States and other nations. Not a single fact or 6gure is given relative to any branch 
of industry carried on in the United States. Our great agricultural, manufacturing, raining, 
transportatiou, river, lake, and canal systems, our labor interests — our home capital in what- 
soever branches employed — afford a vast field for investigation, and the statistics in regard to 
them would be of inestimable value. The current politics of the country cannot be compre- 
hended without them. The history of our country caaaoi be truly written because of the want 
of them. Yet .Mr. Delmar is blind to everything but what takes place on the ocean. He is a 
salt-water bird, and if he were appointed Director of a Bureau of Statistics for the five great 
oceans of the globe he would be in his right place. If the President cannot be induced to 
appoint a more competent Superintendent for the Bureau it had better be abolished." — Tribune. 



What H. G. Knows about Ignatius Donnelly, of Minnesota. 

" Ignatius Donnelly was a young man and new to the State when the Republicans of his 
District took him up (in 1864) and elected him to Congress, re-electing him in 18tJ6. Not l^eing 
a Clay nor a Webster many Republicans thought two terms should satisfy him ; but he insisted 
on another, divided the party, and throw away the seat. Now, a true man, we think, would 
have said : • Since there is a considerable part of my Republican constituents who wish me to 
step aside I will do it, harmonize the district, and save the seat.' Mr. Donnelly chose the 
opposite course and threw the seat away. We think this proves him a false, selfish, unworthy 
man, and justifies our conviciion thai he cares uotbing for the Republican party except as it 
ministers to his owu aggrandizement." — Tribune, December 21, 1869. 

"Mr. Ignatius Donnelly, having been thrice cliosea to Congress from the northern district 
of Minnesota, wanted to go again; but the Republican Convention saw fit to nominate an- 
other; so he ran stump and threw away the district. Hereupon Mr. Donnelly, who was a 
Peunsylvanian born and had hitherto been a zealous protectionist, came out a 'Revenue Re- 
former,' and commenced asc-ailing the party which had hitherto endured and subsisted him as 
the enemy of the West, because it had elect<;d such men as himself to Congress, and thereby 
upheld tlie policy of Protection. 

"After doing what little misvhief he could in the way of spouting wherever he could corner 
an audience, Mr. D. has at length got himself into line with t!ie Sham Democracy. He is to 
run again for Congress as a slump candidate, inflicting on the Republicans all the abuse and 
misreprespntation whereof he is capable; and the Democrats are to print his name on their 
ballots and see if their votes, with those he can pick up by his anti-Tariff dodge, will not put 
him through. 

"This man Donnelly afibrds a fair illustration of what is meant by ' Revenue Reform.' Its 
inspiration is hatred of Republican ascendancy and a determination to overthrow it in 1872. 
So it is understood, and therefore it is f.ivored, by every enemy of General Grant's Adminis- 
tration. TIrus The Cliicago Times applauds The Chicago Tribune for commending Democratic 
(that is, an;i-Taritf) piinciptes in quarters wuich Democratic journals never reach. Thus The 
Ohio Statesman commends The Slate Journal as bsing souu lly CopDerhead so far as the Tariff 
is concerned. Everywhere a Free Trade speecli-maker is justly hailed by the Democrats as 
luring fish into their net^. Happily there are not enough of them to rescue vSham Democracy 
from ti:e famine which, for lack of Federal loaves as well as fishes, it has endured for the last 
nine years." — ■Tribune, September 19, ISTO. 



WJiat H. G. Knows about Jamas R. Doolittle, of Wisconsin. 

"Mr. James R. Doolittle joined the Republican party late in the canvass of 1856, after he 
had become satisfied that it could not fail to carry Wisconsin, and was chosen United States 
Senator a ^avr months thereafter. He is now well through his second term, and is quite aware 
that he must look to new affiliatioos for office thereafter. Mr. Doolittle left the Republicans of 
Wisconsin last Fall, and has been defying them ever since. He was instructed to vote for the 



34 What Horace Greeley Knows 

Civil Rights bill by the vote of every Republicaa in the present Legislature, but he did not 
obey. Including Governor Randall's 'bread-and-butter' men, there may be two thousand 
ex-Republicans in Wisconsin who are going over with Doolittle ; but he has no more idea of 
acting henceforth with the Republicans than of turning Mormon. He has got all he could 
from onr side, and has gone off in quest of ' fresh fields ,and pastures green.' We expect to 
have him making speeches in our State for the Democratic ticket." — Tribune, August 17, 1866. 

" Mr. James R. Doolittle has lost the little disnity he retained after his involuntary apostasy 
from the Republican party. As long as he held himself aloof from the scenes of his old con- 
tests, bearing impartial testimony against the wickedness of both sides, we found him a trifle 
dull, but perfectly respectable. His isolation gave him a sort of style — like St. Simeon's on 
his pillar, equal to him in integrity and uselessness. But he has sunk into a mere oCficc- 
Beeker at last, and acceiited a grudging nomination wiih a platform as shuf3ing and hesitating 
as himself. He will be easily beaten and coiufortalily forgotten before he is called upon to 
digest his Thanksgiving Turkey." — Tribune, August 25, 1871. 

What H. G. Kiaerc about the late StepJien A. Douglas, of Illinois. 

" Mr. Douglas made his appearance j^esterday (January 24, 1851) in the Senate riding two 
horses abreaSt. He goes now for a split of Nebraska, and for the making of two Territories 
where there are not half people enough to form one. Just wliat he proposes to do we do not 
learn. But we judge he is after keeping up the equilibrium of thin»s by makiaga slave and a 
free Stale out of his two proposed Territories of Nebraska and Kansas. The Little Gi;int is 
rolling himself in the dirt too early. He will be so bemired before 185(3 that he will Idsb all 
chance of being touched by anybody. However, let him wallow. Wearecoatentif he is." — 
Tribu?ie, January 24, 1854. 

" Donglas has brains. So had Judas. So had that other Arnold who tried to sellout 
American Liberty before him. But in the case of the Illinois Senator, the brains are coarse and 
unwashed. They are also in the wrong place. A phrenological system founded on his brain 
would be only applicable to Yahoos. His is a bull-dog mentality, a combination of the swine-herd 
and the Caliban. One may say he is capable. So he is. He can do certain thinga very well. Ha 
cau frame a foundation and build thereon as good a superstructure of lies -is any otlier man. He 
ca\i blackguard his betters like a fi^h-selling harridan ; witness his speeches in the Senate. He 
can run through the whole diapason of political falsehood with unrivalled skill, from the deli- 
cate note of suggested prevarication down to the double bass of unmitigated lyio?. Fie is an 
artist in that domain of human effort. If th'e devil should ever open a crystal palace and give 
premiums, Douglas would command them all in this branch of manufacture. Yet let us do 
him justice. He does not lie when the truth would serve him better. To this extent he is vir- 
tuous. In this he is a connoisseur who knows where to place his picture. If he cannot 
give it a good light he will not i)ut it up. In fact, Douglas has a jolly alTeclioa f',T a lie. He 
evidently thinks the lie an ill-treated member of society. Thus he harljors it, aims to elevate it, 
makes it a boon companion, and takes it into his service on all occasions. H^ sets a little lie 
on its legs, and tenderly and lovingly nurses it, till' it grows rotund and swelling. He puts it 
on its travels, and as it wanders over the country he ciiuckles and exults at its powers of locomo- 
tion. Sefing his skill and loving the little darlings of his brain, he creates more. Thus he be- 
comes father to a brood. So skillful has he become in this line, that in political circles he en- 
joys almost a monopoly of the business. Other peoples' efforts in it are as so meacrre, compared 
with his, that, by common consent, he is accorded the position of liar-in-chief. He has reached 
the rank of Lieutenant-General by real service. Long ago he commenced stump-speaking and 
went over into Kentucky. Humphrey Marshall and others used to meet him. He there acquired 
a great reputation. Indeed, he was everywhere admired. It was in everybody's mouth : 'How 
splendidly the little villain lies.' " — Tribune, April 11, 1856. 

"Mr. Douglas is now, par excellence, the representative man of the Democracy of the Free 
States. A mm of the people, without much superfluous refinement of mind or manner, ready 
to take a chew of tobacco or a drink of whiskey with any fellow in the first bar-room, he car- 
ries off in triumph the (acile admiration of the rowdy crowd who adorn the lower walks of 
human society ; while the pugilistic quality and prodigious force of his intellect, the reckless 
quickness of his attack, and the unequalled game and pluek of his defence, render him a formid- 
able figure in every contest in which he may bear a part. It is true that his mental constitu- 
tion, as exhibited in his political career, is not of a sort to command the admiration of severe 
critics or to insure him a place among the great statesmen and orators of the country. It Uicks 
at once the charm of the imagination and the frtscinations of both wit and sentiment; wliile it 
seems equally destitute of the guiding influence of a sacred love of truth and a careful observ- 
ance of the lines which sunder her domains from those of filsehood. Nor has Mr Dourlas 
evinced the generosity and magnanimity which are indispensable in a great popular Ip.tdor ; 
but in gladiatorial displays of talent, and in the unscrupulous rough-and-tumble conflict of 



About Leading Democrats. 35 

partisan politics he is without a peer; and according-ly be is tiie hero, and, at this moment, the 
indisputable chief ot' the Norihcra Democracy." — Tribune, December 31, 1858. 



What H. G. Knows about Peter M. Dox, of Alabama. 

"The Hon. Peter M. Dox, a Democratic member of Con^^reis from Alabama, has happily hit 
ii[)on the only sweetly plausible explanation of the origin of the Ku-KIu.k Kkm which has been 
made public It must be observed that Mr. Dox admits the fact of the existence of the Klan, 
but says the negroes behaved very badly in 18'33, when the organization of the K. K. K. was 
perfected. The colored people, he avers, were in the habit of roaming about the country und 
firing off muskets in a loose and promiscuous fashion, thereby scaring the timid Southrons, 
who found it necessary to organize a local patrol such as all slaveholding towns had before 
the war. Knowing th.it the negroes were superstitious, the so-called Ku-Klux used masks, 
only for the purpose of frightening them, just as the Chinese sought to terrify the outside bar- 
barians with horribly grotesque shields and noises. And this harmit^ss stratagem was not 
resorted to until the negroes had been vainly 'expostulated ' with. But Mr. Dox does not say 
how many negroes lost their lives by expostulation, though he does say the means used were 
effectual in re-establishing order." — Tribune, July 13, 1871. 



What H. G. Knew about E'lward Everett, of Massachusetts. 

" Edward Everett lacked the force of character which qualifies a man to guide and mould the 
opinions of his fellows. With a genuiae love of progress, it is no paradox to say that he 
combined a dread of innovation ; he sbrutik before the ghosts of public rumor ; his trust ia 
principle was even modified by his mistrust of consequences ; with a want of the enthusiasm, 
the personal magnetism, the free, spontaneous abandonment to the genial impulses of the moment 
which make ardent friends, he was annoyed with the perpetual fear of making enemies ; he 
carried his kindness of manner, his spirit of conciliation, his deference to prevailing preju- 
dices, his love of complimentary allusions, to the ve:'y verge of sincerity ; it was a hard thing 
for him to makeup his mind to call a bad thing or a false idea by its right name ; and even ia 
the defcTice of vital public interests, he trembled before the audacious or the subtle assaults of his 
antagonists ; he was too fond of granting concessions for llie sake of peace ; thus at times incur- 
ring the cimtempt of his opponents, who saw no distinction between his gentleness of statement 
find cowardice of spirit, between his aversion to giving offimce and a willingness to compromise 
the noblest principles of Statesmanship." — Tribune, January 16, 1865. 



What H. G. Knows about Emerson Etheridge, of Tennessee. 

" Mr. Emerson Etheridge, it is announced, has gone to Washington to induce the Govern- 
ment to recognize Gen. Willi.im B. Campbell as Governor of Tennessee, on the strength of a 
few hundred votes polled for him in several counties on the first Thursday of August last, which 
used to be the day of election in that State. The object of this movement, we believe, is not so 
much to induct Gen. Campbell, as to extrude Hon. Andrew Johnson, whose decided and out- 
spoken anti-slavery convictions and acts are not approved by Mr. Etheridge. Gen. Campbell, like 
Gov. Johnson and Mr. Etheridge, was a member of Congress in other days, was always a Whig and 
a high-toned gentleman, is loyal ami true, and would doubtless make a good Governor. It may 
or may not be well to place him in that oflice. But if there be any party in Tennessee desiring 
to see him recognized as Governor at Washington, they surely should know better than to en- 
trust their case to Emerson Etheridge. That person, hunted from his home by the Secession- 
ists, came to Washington a fugitive, and was immediately taken up by the Republicans, and 
placed in the best office within their gift — that of Clerk of the House. He w.as not known to be 
a Republican, but he was a Unionist, nnd no questions were asked. In requital for this gene- 
rosity, Mr. Etheridge, last summer, addressed to the Unionists of Memphis about the most bit- 
ter and unfair attack on the President, his policy, and their supporters, that h is ever yet been 
concocted. If Tharin, the Alabama fugitive, had more brains, he might equal its injustice and 
ingratitude, but not its subtle venom. 

"If therefore there be loyal men in Tennessee who have business of consequence at Washing- 
ton, we trust they may be admonished to confide it to someone less intensely and justlj- obnox- 
ious there than Emerson Etheridge." — Tribune, September 30, 1863. 

"Impudence, if very cool, is very amusing, and in that respect the letter of Mr. Emerson 
Etheridge will be found good light reading. These Southern gentlemen are recovering with 
wonderful quickness from the mortification of their terrible defeat, and are breaking out all over 
the country into a rage of vituperation. Whether they are made governors or lodged in jail 
eeems to make little difference to them. They turn upon the President with a virulence and 
wrath which had they displayed in arms might have prolonged the war another year ; but the 
men who scold do not seem to be the men who fought. It is those wh9 were on neither one 
Bide nor the other during the war who seem determined now that the fighting is over that 



36 What JEorace Greeley Knows 

the bad passions it engendered shall not be forgotten, and that there shall be no real peace." 
—Tribune, July 22, 1B65. 

Wkai H. G. Knows about Thomas B. Florence, of Washington. 

" The lion. Thomas B. Florence was fourteen years a representative of the Philadelphia Navy- 
Yard in the House, and a more abject tool of the Slave Power than any other Navy- Yard could 
turn out. As he; has ceased to be even a member of the House, his proposal lo pervert its grand 
Hall, the properly of the Republic, to the uses of the Copperhead gathering he invites, is a 
strilcing illustration of that cool effrontery which will not consider that Slavery's mastery of our 
Government has been recklessly staked aud lost. The two Democratic National Committees 
and 'the Conservative men of the Country' are urged to assemble at Washington for the sole, 
naked purpose of saving Slavery from the doom which it has criminally invoked. Tbe cir- 
ciimlocutory verbiage employed by the Hon. Tom Florence means exactly that, and nothing 
else. We protest ivrainst the proposed gathering, in that it proposes virtually to wrest from the 
Government of the Uuittd States the urave responsibility of fixing the terms of accommodation 
with the defenti'd and death-struck Rebellion. We protest against it, because, under the mask 
of anxiety for Peace, it tends directly and strongly to keep alive the embers of that Rebellion 
by exciting false, misleading hopes in the minds of its remaining votaries. There never would 
have been any Slaveholders' Rebellion but for sangine expectations of Northern aid, hopes 
which the letters, speeches, and conversations of such men as the Hon. Tom Florence fully 
authorized. — Tribune, August 27, 1863, 

What H. G. Knows about J. S. FoLoler, of Tennessee. 

"Mr. Senator Fowler is following up his vote on impeachment by devoting his time 
to the Executive Mansion in Washington, meddling in all those nasty Internal Revenue 
affairs. Perhaps Mr. Fowler would like to be informed that in the election now pend- 
ing Tennessee is a State which will bear some good work, and that tbe duty of Repub- 
licans is to assist in securing the success of Grant." — Tribune^ Odober 37, 1868. 

What H. G. Knew about William M Gwin, of Mississippi. 

" Gwin is an offender of a less marked type. Throughout the several stages of this 
scheme for destroying the Constitution there has been an inner and an outer circle of 
conspirators. While Davis, Slidell, and Mason belonged to the inner circle, Hiinter, 
Breckinridge, and Gwin, more catitious, aud perhaps more cowardly, hoveretl around 
the outer edges of the plot. Gwin formerly represented Mississippi in the House of 
Representatives. Misfortune overtook him. He emigrated to California, taking with 
him his unscrupulous nature, and his strong prejudices and affinities for the South and 
Southern institutions. Failing to obscure the golden empire of the Pacific with the 
black cloud of negro slavery, Gwin fell in with the popular current, and was soon borne 
into the United Slates Senate. An admirer, and so far as was prudent for the repre- 
sentative of a Free Slate, the follower of his old friend, Jeff. Davis, Gwin managed, by 
his seemingly hearty advocacy of a Pacific Rail Road, to keep himself afloat in his new 
Western home. But all this lime his heart was among the Cotton plantations of his old 
abode. While in the Senate he was not so much the counselor and confidant of Davis 
as his confederate and tool." — Tribune, November 18, 1861. 

What H. G. Kneio about A. Oakey Hall, of New York. 

" The respectable and Hf)n. A. Oakey Hall, we notice, has a way of his own of lubri- 
cating all difflculties for the popular deglutition. ' Platforms,' he sagaciously observed, 
• may do for the furniture and garnish of a campaign, but the oath of office, when a 
man is elected, is the only real platform.' That is to say, it is perfectly proper for a 
party holding one set of opinions, which have been solemnly and officially promul- 
gated, to sustain a man holding another set of opinions which are no secret! Egadl 
the insults fly thickly and heavily about this time. Fernando insults Gen. MeClellan, 
and Oakey liall insults the Chicago Convention, and between the two the popular good 
sense gets more dreadfully insulted than either! Why, this really approaches the sub- 
limity of pure aud undefiled thimble-rig. Never was the little joker, politically speak- 
ing, so lively. Now he is under the war-thimble, and anon he is under the peace- 
thitnble; and when ikey Hall manipulates, he is under no thimble at all, nor is he any- 
where to be found, for Oakey Hall has swallowed him! May good digestion wait on 
his appetite." — Tribune, September 23, 1864. 



What H. G. Knew about John B. Hashin. 
' Mr. Haskin, of the Westchester District, in this State, in the debate in the House 



About Leading Democrats. ST 

on Wednesday, at Washington, very boldly condemned the fillibustering of Walker, 
but more boldly declared in favor of fillibustering on a large scale. Mr. Haskin, ac- 
cording to our telegraphic report, despises the petit larceny of individuals, but glories 
in the ' graud larceny of nations,' and accordingly he is for stealing Cuba by all the 
power of the Government. Mr. Haskin's private morals are of no public consequence 
whatever; but we recommend him to observe some degree of reticence in his public 
utterances. It is of no service to anybody to boast of villainy: and the man who does 
it not only discloses his want of virtue, but his want of sense. A knave in disguise is 
offensive enough, but a confessing knave is worse. We recognize a lurking sense of 
decency in hypocritical professions of goodness, but toward blatant rascality there can 
be no sentiments but those of disgust. Mr. Haskin will find himself unable to get on 
in the course he has chosen. We recommend him to the confessional. Let him come 
out and admit that he has made a fool of himself, and begin again." — Iribune, January 
8, 1858. 

What H. G. Knew of the late Bishop Hughes, of New York. 

"Right Reverend John Hughes, you have been, for some thirty years, a Bishop in 
this city, and have acquired and wielded an immense influence over the great body of 
your flock. During all that time there has existed among us a race — the African — de- 
spised, abused, insulted, wronged, trampled on, as no race ever was in any Christian 
city of the Old World. Rev. Sir ! Your peojile for years have been, and today are, 
foremost in the degradation and abuse of this persecuted race — in depriving them of 
civil rights ; in reviling them for being what our laws and usages combine to make 
them ; in denying them opportunities for instruction and improvement ; in restricting 
their avenues of employment; in abusing them by mobs and assaulting them in the 
streets ; in clamoring for their exclusion from public conveyances and places of recrea- 
tion ; in upholding in all things the cause of their systematic oppressors, and enabling 
the apologists of their enslavement to say: "See how they are hated and trodden 
down in the North ! Is it not better that they remain in slavery, where they are pro- 
tected from the brutality of the many by the self-interest of their masters ? 

" Rev. Sir ! I know you too well to ask if you approve this treatment of the despised 
and outcast. I am sure that your sense of Justice condemns and your humanity re- 
volts at it. But I ask you most earnestly. Have you done your duty in, the premises? 
Has your great influence been fully, openly, steadily exerted in stern resistance to this 
most unchristian, inhuman spirit of negro hate, and all its iniquitous manifestations? 
Or have you imitated too generally the priest and Levite, so signally rebuked and repro- 
ba,ted by our Divine Master, and ' passed by on the other side ?' And do you propose 
to continue in this course to the end '? I entreat you to answer these questions to your 
own conscience — to answer them as one who has enjoyed vast opportunities for good, 
and is soon to render an account of their improvement at the bar of an all-seeing 
God V'— Tribune, July 9, 1863. 

What H. G. Knows about Charles S. Greene, of Massachusetts. 

"There are evidently some exceptions admitted at Washington to the announced doc- 
trine of rotation in ofiice. There are some families in which office-holding has become 
so fixed and established that no statute of limitations and no rule of rotation is held to 
apply to them. This is the case with the Greene family of Boston. That family have 
been office-holders ever since the incoming of Gen. Jackson in 1829, and they seem cer- 
tain to continue so as long as the Shamocracy, of which they are such distinguished and 
favored members, shall remain in authority. The secret of their hold upon office is, 
first, a total destitution of all principle or pretense of any, and a perfect readiness to 
advocate any doctrines or measures, however conflicting or contradictory, that may be 
in vogue for the moment; and, secondly, their connection with the press. The Greenes 
were the proprietors of The Statesman, since called The Post, originally established or 
bought up for the purpose of advocating General Jackson's election, with a promise, so 
abundantly fulfilled, of office, in case of success; and to this day this organ of the 
Shamocracy and Key to Office remains under the control of the family. For a long 
time the Greenes were content with the lucrative office of Postmaster of Boston, with 
the addition, indeed, of contracts for blanks, paper and twine furnished to the Post Office 
Department, and the Government advertising. They now claim and enjoy as their 
own, besides the Post Office, the place of Navy Agent, to which Mr. Charles G. Greene, 
we see, has just been reappointed. It is but fair to state, however, that while claiming 
two oflSces, the Greene family also control two newspapers — the Postmaster of that 
family having, since his appointment, bought up one of his own. " — Tribune, April 10, 
1857. 



38 What Horace Greeley Knows 

What H. G. Knorvs about W. S. GroesbccJi , of Ohio. 

"Mr. "W. S. Groesbeck always Qiakes the most of himself. Some of his admirers 
tried to make a little more than this ' most,' when they essayed the task of manufactur- 
ing a Presidential candidate out of him; but still he is a Democrat of considerable tal- 
ent, more influence, and a prestige more than proportionate to both. He could not ap- 
pear undignilicd, even if only blowing his nose. We welcome his utterance, and can 
■wish the Democratic party no better luck than that Groesbeck may multiply and pre- 
vail. He is avast improvement on the average type of Western' Democratic states- 
men." — Tribune, Septeinber 14, 1871. 

" Mr. Groesbeck's physical weakness, when pleading during the Impeachment trial? 
doubtless enlisted for the time the sympathy of the Senators, and aided rather than 
injured the eifect of his argument. But, on a critical survey of his positions, most of 
which are the baldest assumptions, his address onlj' brings out more clearly the irremedi- 
able weaknesses of his case. Pie is pleading for Presidential prerogatives, which would 
surrender Congress, the laws, the Constitution, and the country, bound hand and foot, 
to the will of an absolute monarch. No sophistry can obscure, no ingenuity can un- 
make this fact. If the Senate of the United States could, by any fatuity, sustain these 
usurpations, then the great Republic is already like a dream that is past. History will 
say of us that not even genius, popularity, statesmanship, or military prestige were 
needed to subdue us, but that we bowed our necks to the heel of the first despot who 
attempted our subjugation, though he was ignorant, despised, wicked, and weak." — 
Tribum, A'pril 27, 1868. 



What H G. Knows about John T. Hoffma'n, of New York. 

"Mayor Hoffman yesterday entertained an indignant protest from over one hundred 
German citizens interested in trading on Sunday. The protest was, of course, chiefly 
in the name of beer, and against certain measures ' which oppress a large class of busi- 
ness men, and destroy the means whereby thousands of our fellow-citizens make an 
honest living.' That is what Rogue Riderhood would call it, and the Mayor cheerfully 
Indorses this view of the subject. In reply to his clients he denounces what he calls 
the harsh operation of the Excise law, utters a shrewd caution against rioting, and de- 
clares that ' What you want is to carry with you always the moral sentiment of the com- 
munity.' That isjust what they y^&nV— Tribune, May 10, 1867. 



What H. G. Knew about General Andrew Jachsony of Tennessee. 

"When we see an attempt made to consecrate and canonize by funeral honors the 
crimes against Liberty and Law which were committed by or through Gen. Jackson — 
to represent him as a second Washington ; to hold up his career to the Youth of our 
land as a model for their admiring imitation — we cannot be silent. We are irresistibly- 
reminded of the golden days of our Republic, when the strongest Will was not abso- 
lute Law ; when honest Opinion was not a crime ; when Lynch-law, Official Mail rob- 
bery, and the forcible exile of unoffending dependent tribes, was unknown ; when our 
National Faith was unsullied by avowed perfidy to the Cherokees, or covert rapacious 
treachery to Mexico ; when Proscription had not fastened its poisonous fangs on the 
vitals of the body politic, and responsible ofiices were not consequently filled with 
Prices, Hoyts, Tom Lloyds, and Bill Fords ; when honesty was deemed essential to 
Honor, and the terrible vice of universal Office-seeking had not tainted our Elections, 
and incurably diseased the Republic. And when these things pass in review before our 
mind's eye, and we compare what was with what is, we are impelled to say, Let them 
do homage whom feeling or hypocrisy impels to- it ; we cannot." — Tribune, June 

" What arrant falsehood is the assertion that Andrew Jackson ' checked the progress 
of corruption and brought back the Government to its Republican simplicity!' An- 
drew Jackson was the first President "who removed, multitudinously and indiscrimi- 
nately, from office for opinion's sake. It was during Andrew Jackson's administration 
that official peculation and defalcation, by the wholesale, commenced their corrupt and 
and corrupting influences, and increased and spread with such intensity and rapidity, that, 
under Vaw Buren, who ' followed in the footsteps of his illustrious predecessor,' known 
official defalcations and peculations were not regarded as sufficient cause of removal. And 
yet with all these notorious facts within the personal knowledge or recollection of all 
adult, intelligent citizens now living, Washingtonians and Congressional banqueters 
publicly proclaim over their cups that Andrew Jackson ' checked the progress of cor- 



^ About Leading Democrats. 39 

ruption! ' Such, vpen, and all of their political kith and kin, would do well to remember 
that John Quincy Adams recognized the right of an office-holder to enjoy and act upon 
his own political convictions, while Franklin Pierce removed from office those who 
would not servilely conform, even in state politics, to the imperious and degrading in- 
structions of himself and his Cabinet." — Tribune, January 12, 1854 



What H. G. Knotvs about President Andrew Johnson, of Tennessee. 

"Mr. Johnson has some rare qualifications for the vast responsibility so suddenly 
thrust upon him. In the first place it will not be easy to expose him to prejudice as ar 
' Yankee.' He is Southern born and bred ; he never lived in a Free State till he made 
one free for himself ; and it will be difficult to make the Poor Whites of the South believe 
him their natural, implacable foe. It will be up-hiil work to diffuse a belief that he is 
keeping up the War on purpose to enrich eastern manufacturers. Having always been a 
Democrat it will be a job to induce any but Irishmen to oppose him in the interest of ' De- 
mocracy.' Sincehe has always voted against Protective duties, it will be hard to induce a 
general belief that he is fighting to secure enhanced imports. Having always till now 
voted and acted as though Blacks had no rights which Whites are bound to re.&ipect, it is 
no light task to convince the public that he is lured from the path of power by ' nigger- 
worship,' ' nigger-on-the-brain,' or anything out of that shop. In short, he is in a position 
to stand well with a majority of our people, and we trust he will. But more: he knows 
the Rebellion, egg and bird, its incitements, its pretexts, its leaders, their objects and their 
hopes. He knows how far the South has been perverted or tainted by that Rebellion, 
and wherein it is safe to temper Justice with Mercy." — Tribune, April 22, 1865. 

"We believe anything possible of Mr. Johnson. His Administration is a record of 
deception, cunning, disloyalty — antagonism to the best interests of the country. He 
has made the Administration of Buchanan respectable by showing a degradation to 
which even Mr. Buchanan could not sink. He has betrayed his party; he has betrayed 
his friends; he has betrayed his country. Nothing is left of his Administration but a 
few miserable jobbers like those who hang around him, and a few wretched political 
adventurers like Black. The men who accepted contumely for his cause, like Seward 
and Randall and Welles, he is impatient to drive out of his cabinet. The savage_ of 
Sahara is not insensible to the obligations of friendship, but even this no longer remains 
with Mr. Johnson."— Tniwrie, August 28, 1867. 

" The time has come to cease trifling with Andrew Johnson. This man who reeled 
into the Presidency; who has debased his high office by unseemly and indecent demon- 
strations; who has surrounded himself with the worst members of the worst phase of 
Washington life; whose retinue consists of lobbyists, rebels, and adventurers; who has 
polluted the public service by making espionage honorable, and treachery the means of 
advancement; who has deceived the party that elected him, as well as the party that 
created him; who has made his own morbid and overweening vanity the only rule of 
his administration; who has sought to entrap illustrious servants of the people into ig- 
nominious evasion of the law, and who now claims to break that law with impunity — 
this most infamous Chief Magistrate should be swept out of office. Let Mm be impeaclied! 
And Jet the Republican party show that it not only has the power to preserve the country 
from rebellion under Jeflerson Davis, but also from treachery under Andrew Johnson.' 
—Tribune, February 24, 1868. 

What H. G. Knows about Hon. Reverdy Johnson, of Maryland. 

"Mr. Reverdy Johnson, of Maryland, has lately achieved some notoriety by appear- 
ing, not for the first time, as counsel on the side of the Rebellion. His previous per- 
formances in that line were of considerable service to the Rebel cause while it still had 
some hope of success. The cause being dead, Mr. Johnson exerts himself with the 
same zeal in behalf of its still surviving leaders. His chosen arena is the Supreme 
Court of the United States; his client is nominally Mr. Garland, of Arkansas; but he is 
really the advocate of the host of unpardoned traitors in whose pathways to fortune, 
fame, and political success the test-oath is a stumbling-block. Mr. Johnson's role is to 
argue the unconstitutionality of that oath. We suppose Mr. Johnson considers it his 
professional privilege to argue on any side for which he gets a retainer. Having a law- 
yer's conscience on that subject he will scarcely be disturbed by being reminded that his 
legislative judgment was quite different from his professional opinion. We do not 
know on which he sets the most value — that opinion which he is paid for holding, or 
that toward which he had no other incentive than a sense of obligation of his Senato- 
rial oath and of his duty to the country. In the present iastance the two can hardly be 

15 



AiSb 



40 What Horace Greeley Knows 

reconciled. Yet Mr. Johnson allows himself to be quoted on that side wLere his pecu- 
niar}'- interest lies, and not on that side where his vole in the Senate stands recorded." — 
Tribune, December 21), 1865. 



What H. G. Knows about Gen Joseph Lane, of Oregon. 

"As to General Lane, currently known as ' Joe Lane,' he is just the poorest stick ever 
set up for so exalted a station. I3e is a son of Gen. Amos Lane, who was one of the 
inventors of the Jackson party in Indiana, ran for Congress and was beaten sundry 
times, but finally run in on Ihe top of the Jackson wave in '33, and was again elected 
in '34, when he subsided. We seem to remember that the son made his way into the 
Legislature of Indiana some fifteen or twenty years ago, and know that he volunteered 
in the Mexican War, wherein he was made a Colonel, which title has expanded, under 
careful nursing, into that of General. He has done his little all to proscribe Douglas 
and drive him out of the Democratic party, for which he is about to be rewarded by 
one of the most humiliating defeats ever administered to an unprincipled, small-minded 
demagog!^.. Ho telegraphed the Oregon delegation to bolt at Charleston when the 
Slave^Code platform was voted down, and has been a most abject tool of the Fire- 
Eaters throughout." — Tribune, June 25, 1860. 



What H G. Knoics about Hon George hunt, of Massachusetts. 

"There are those among us who have long held that the steady decrease of the Demo- 
cratic Party in Massachusetts was owing to the intelligence and patriotism of her sons. 
But one George Lunt, a shining member of the Constitutional Club, a Boston Demo- 
cratic organization, has robbed us of our pet idea. In a public speech to the Club he 
made the astounding declaration that the demoialization of their party wbS caused by 
the greater portion of its members having rushed to the war to protect the Union. This 
gentleman, we understand, once published a volume of rhymes remarkable only for 
their lack of poetry. If he will woo the muse once more, selecting as his theme the 
rush of the Democracy for the war to protect the Union, we can promise him a crown- 
ing success." — Tribune, March 23, 1870. 

" Poor Mr. George Lunt, weltering in the sophistry of his five hundred pages on 
' The Origin of the War,' dedicates a generous space to the meddlement of the Clergy 
with politics and the capsizing of their pulpits into what Mr. Lunt vigorously calls 
' the disturbed vortex of political wrangle ' — a flagrant dereliction of the demeanor be- 
coming their sacred profession.' ' They preached upon Kansas,' says this author, ' and 
prayed about it,' and ' the immediate etfect of this ecclesiastic interposition in a ques- 
tion of merely political import was disastrous in the extreme*' — in the opinion of Mr. 
George Lunt. To this we may logically respond that the clerical advocates of Slavery 
were^uite as industrious. It was sustained, not as a political but as a religious insti- 
tution, sanctioned by the Old and permitted by the New Dispensation, founded under 
the influence of Divine command by the great Hebrew legislator, and directly indorsed 
by the Apostle Paul. If the pulpit interfered with Slavery, it was the pro-Slavery pul- 
pit North and South that set the example." — Tribune, June 12, 1866. 



What H. G. Knows about. Gen. George B. McCldlan. 

"While circumstantial evidence shows that Gen. McClellan was on a gunboat during 
the battle of Malvern Hill, there is positive testimony that he was on a gunboat during 
the terrible battle of White Oak Swamp or Glendale, the day before, (June 30;) and 
that when the battle of Malvern Hill was fiercely raging, he was several miles from the 
scene, selecting, as he himself tells us, ' the final position of the army and its depots,' 
when, as he expected, it should be defeated."— TnOune, September 17, 1864. 



What H. G. Knows about Hon. John Morrissey, of New Yoi-h. 

"Mr. Morrissey has flogged Mr. Heenan. Both those champions are now sick and 
Bore, black and blue, debilitated and depleted, stiff, bruised, and wounded. One of 
them, the stalwart Mr. Morrissey, will carry off the dollars and the glory. The other 
■will carry off his abrasions, depletions, and obscurations. Perhaps we should express 
our regret that neither of these combatants has been killed, the result being contrary to 
a most lively hope which we have all along entertained and sometimes expressed. 
Catering to the desire of the public, and to the duty of reporting the fights as well as 
the hangings and the murders of the community, we have, in language as little slang 
"whaning and vulgar as the nature of the subject w juld admit, given the particulars of 

16 



About Leading Democrats. 41 

this contest — the chronicle of blood, bruises, pluck, desperation, and defeat. It is not 
a pleasant picture, although we may smooth, modify, and glaze it. Many men, and, 
perhaps, some women, who will talk volubly enough of tbe aflfiiir, would not have 
cared to look upon it. The records of the Prize Ring are not, upon the whole, pleasant 
reading. If some enthusiastic and entertaining butcher should write articles describ- 
ing the agonies of defunct lambs, of departed calves, and of expiring oxen, his work 
■would not be put into the fashionable magazines, and might even be rejected by J7ie 
Herald. When a man comes very near killing another man, the case is not ditr* rent. 
We have read over rapidly the report of this fight. We have not found it dulcet. 
There have been fights more brutal and bloody — there have been fights crowaed by the 
fascinations oi murder — there have been fairer figlits, and there have been fouler ones. 
It would be hoping against hope to express the trust that this business may disgust 
society as it should. Fools will continue to bet money which may or may not belong 
to them, and bullies will still swagger and strut and abuse the good gift of physical 
strength. The law seems to be worth nothing. The death of some combatant in the 
ring may dampen the ardors of sucking Morrisseys and of callow Heenans. Until that 
blessed example is vouchsafed to the turbulent and pugnacious, we must, we suppose, 
submit to the impotency of legislation. When society is ready to regard pugilists as it 
regards thieves, burglars, and assassins — when they are infamous in fact as they are in- 
famous by statute — when they are universally recognized as brutal, animal and in- 
grained cowardly fellows, we shall need no new laws against them." — Tribune, October 
23, 1858. 

" The Congressman is a monarch, to be appeased, flattered, bribed, and courted; to 
be asked to breakfast and dinner, and tea and supper; to be filled with fine meats and 
with costly wines until he can refuse the suppliant nothing. vVe do not see why in this 
beautiful business Mr. John Morrissey, whose motto has always been 'give and take,' 
should not shine and knock down as many souls as he has knocked down many bodies. 
He is a first-rate caterer. No tavern waiter can humbug him in respect to fodder. He 
knows a neat wine when he tastes it. We should never think of disputing his judgment 
on a cigar. We believe, too, that he is not in the least stingy, but will entertain his 
guests at home or show them tie fashions abroad without regard to expense. Then, 
there is always the dread which must ever haunt the unfaithful representative who eats 
and drinks one way and votes another, that the iron fist of Mr. John Morrissey, still re- 
membering its former cunning, may wildly range over the representative countenance, 
close in black and blue night the representative eyes, unlock the fountains of the repre- 
sentative nostrils, and break down the bridge of the representative nose! A very fearful 
lobby man must John be truly! If we had any desperate, hopeless, selfish project which 
we desired to have rushed through, we are free to say that, whether for feeding the mal- 
contents, Mr. Morrissey would be the man for our money, and should have it to any rea- 
sonable extent." — Tribune, June 1, 1866. 



What H. G Knows about Mr. Jo/in Mitchell. 

"Mr. John Mitchell is the eminent friend of Celtic liberty and African slavery. He 
curiously enough determines the right of his fellow-creatures to freedom, or their doom 
to servitude, only after a scientific examination of their hides, their heels, and their 
hair. He believes, with a partiality quite natural, that the least washed and most 
whiskeyfied, the most fecund of bulls and the broadest of brogue, of all his original 
countrymen, is fitter for emancipation than the cleanest black man in the world, who 
never had the advantage of being starved on rotten potatoes ; who never shot a tax- 
gatherer from behind a hedge ; who never went into rebellion like a roaring lion and 
came out of it with lamb like submission in eVery line of his face, to be despoiled of 
his goods ; to be huddled in a dirty jail ; to be tried for his life ; to be sentenced to the 
hurdle and block and the exenterating knife of the executioner ; to accept existence as 
a boon from the despot ; to be sent with pickpockets and prostitutes to a penal settle- 
ment, and to emerge from this dark discipline without sympathy for the oppressed ; 
without one catholic hope for universal humanity ; without one kindly sentiment or 
generous emotion. If Mr. John Mitchell be honest, he is a curiosity ; if not, he is a 
great many fathoms below contempt. We have warned him more than once, and we 
warn him now again, that he quite overacts his part ; that he besots himself needlessly ; 
that his Southern subscribers, who will care very little for him in any event, may not 
care to be slavered to slabhily, and that v/hether he affectionately bestows it upon slave- 
holders or venomously voids it at the North, he is altoerether too prodigal of his drivel. 
When one gives a ragged and pedicular beggar a shilling or a sup, one can willingly 
excuse inconvenient degaonstrations of gratitude, and does not care to have bi^^ hoots 
kissed by foiil lips, or his pantaloons embraced by filthy arras. Mr. John MitchiU's 
newspaper may not have a subscription list long enough to girdle the globe, but he 

17 



42 TVJiat Horace Greeley Knows 

shoiikl, for the sake of appearances, mitigate the fervors of his gratitude when some- 
body in South Carolina bespeaks The SouiJiern {Washwgtoa, D. C.) Citizen, and pays 
him sixteen shillinL^s in advance, because the ardor with which he acknowledges the 
reception of the cash reminds us of the general joy behind Mr. Crummle's curfaiu 
when it was announced that another man had coaie into the pit !" — Tribune, June 
28, 1859. 



W/iat IT. G. Knows about Hon. WiUiam Mungen, of Ohio 

. "Mr. Mungen, of Ohio, came to the surface again yesterday with a little explana- 
tion. It was to the effect that he didn't appprove of the statements in llie Tribune. 
We thank Mr. Mungen very heartily. "We would be obliged to him if he would make 
that announcement once a week during the remainder of the session." — Tribune, Janu- 
ary 14, 1873. 

What H. G. Knew about the late Tom Paine. 

"xis to poor Tom Paine, since I have never heard that he was an Associationis:, nor 
even a Land Reformer, I am unable to account for the bitterness of vituperation with 
which you assail him. That to him, more than to any otlier man, this country is in- 
debted for the impulse to its Independence from Great Bdtain; tkat its separation from 
the Mother Country was more ably and cogently advocated and justified by him than 
by any other writer; that his voice cheered the discomfited defenders of our Liberties, 
as they tracked with blood the frozen soil of New Jersey on their retreat before tlie 
overwhelming numbers of tl.e enemy in the Winter of 1770, and reanimated the People 
to make the efforts and sacrifices necessary to secure our Freedom, I confess, seem to 
me to entitle him to some measure of kindly regard at the hands of every American 
citizen. I trust these are not among the incitements to the vindictive hatred with which 
you pursue and blacken his memory." — Tribune, December 17, 1846. 



What H. G. Knotvs about Hm. Amasa J. Parker, of New Yo7-k. 

" From the time of Aaron Burr downward this State of New York has been sufficiently 
fruitful in sophistical demagogues and brazen impostors. Nor is the race yet by any 
means extinct. Amasa J. Parker, the candidate of the Doughface Democracy for the 
otHce of Governor of New York, delivered on Tuesday evening, at the Palace Garden, (is 
the name of the place of assembly to bo taken as iudicative of the sycophantic charac- 
ter of the meeting collected there V) a speech in the highest degree characteristic of him- 
self and his party. In bold and gross falsehood, it came fully up to the Aaron Burr 
standard, though falling vastly below it in art of giving to that falsehood a decent var- 
nish of plausibility and consistency." — Tiubune, October 'ii, 1858. 



What H. G. K7101CS about Hon. George H. Pendleton, of Ohio. 

"Pendleton is a strong man. Personally a gentleman of pleasing address and blame- 
less life, he is politically an inten-e Copperhead — one of that kind wliich it takes a mi- 
croscope of enormous magnifying power to distinguish essentially from a Rebel. He- 
never for one moment pretended to favor the suppression of the Rebellion by force. 
Though in Congress throughout the war, he made no speech and gave no vote that Da- 
vis, or Lee, or Breckinridge could object to. He begins, therefore, with a solid capital 
of votes of every elector in the Union who deplores the success of the National arms 
as a suppression and overthrow of the real, essential Union." — Tribune, Jaiiuary 11, 
1868. 



What H. G. Knew about tlic late General Franklin Pierce, of Neio Hampshire. 

" General Pierce, with such a prospect before him, proceeded to select his cabinet and 
to distribute the spoils of victory. He went North and South, Eist and West to pick 
up his counselors. He seized first unon an extreme Anti-Compromise man from Vir- 
ginia, but this gentleman declined to go into service. He fished up a Disunionist from 
Mississippi, raked out a renegade Whig from the hot-bed of the Massacliusetts Coalition, 
took a representative of Cass Democracy from one State, of Van Buren Democracy from 
another, and of Buchanan Democracy from a third, and finally completed the circle of 
his advisers after the most approved style of Mosaic work, no two individuals in the 
Cabinet being more alike than a pea and a pancake, and the body being a unit in noth- 
ing except in agreement to take place and help fulfil Mr. Pierce's destiny. The minor 
offices were then distributed after the same fashion, and every divi-Aion of the party got 
its share. The Secessionists and Barnburners, the Union men, Cass men, Buchanan 

18 



About Leading Democrats. 43 

men, all sorts of men, even including Webster men and bolting Wbigs, each and all got 
somelbiug. The pkiuder was distributed broadcast like bou-bons at a conjurer's exhtbi- 
tion. When all was thus done, and everj'^ c'.ass in the whole school had got its medals, 
and politioal notabiliiies of all st,ript?s had obtained their plums, the President conchided 
that Ill's work was done, tliat tiie party was thoroughly united, fused, melted and ruu 
together, and that there was uolliing left for him but smooth sailing to the end of his 
career. Doul)tl('Ss he is astonished to find now, ere he has scarcely got through with 
■what he fancied was the w(u-k of consolidating his party, that it was never in a more 
friable, diseutegrated, loose and disjointed state than at this moment. Distributino- 
ofiices to its various parts has failed aitogeiber to have the eiTeci to Jink the. parts together! 
Like stuhborn cattle, they do not draw together any better for being well fed. — tribune, 
December 5, 1853. 



What H. G. Kncnos. ahnut Gen. Albert Pike, of Arkansas. 
" The Albert Pike who led the Aboriginal Corps of Tomahawkers and Scalpers at the 
Battle of PeaRidge formerly kept school in Fair Haven, Mass., where he was indicted for 
playing the part of Squeers, and cruelly beating and starving a boy in his family. He 
escaped by some hocus-pocus of law, and emigrated to the West, where the violence 
of lilis nature has been admirably enhanced. As his name indicates, he is a ferocious 
fish and has fou,t;ht duels enough to quality himself to be a leader of savages. We sup- 
pose thut upon the recent occ;ision he got himself upin_good style, war paint, nose- 
ring, and all. This new Pontiac is also a poet, and wrote 'Hymns to the Gods' ia 
Blackwood; but he has left Jupiter, Juno, and the rest, and betaken himself 1o the 
culture of the Great Spirit, or rather of Tvvo Great Spirits — whiskey being the second. 
So much for Pike V— Tribune, March 27. 1863. 



What a. G. Knew about the late George D. 'Prentice . of Kvntvchy. 
"Mr Geo. D. Prentice had a son in the Rebel army, and has of late had a paper in 
the Rebel interest. Neither fact sufficiently recommends the veteran Editor and Wit 
to the present masters of the newspaper to which he gave characrer and circulation; 
and, as we learn from Western dispatches, he has at last been dismissed from The Louis- 
X)ille Journal. The veteran may be Ijroken doivn, and he has certainly been in the har- 
ness long enough to be worn out ; but he carries out of The Journal office all of the loy- 
alty and most of the brains of the concern." — Tribune, October 1, 1808. 



What H. G. Knows about A. IV. Randall, of Wisconsin. 

"Some base ruffian has invented a paragraph about Randall (P. M. G.) resigning. 
This statement is promptly denied by an anxious correspondent. We are assured that 
the story that Randall has resihi;ned, or ever contemplated resigning, or ever intimated 
that in any possible contingeacy he would resign, is false. Tiie assurance is scarcely 
necessary. We believe in Randall. He will hold to an office as long as any member of 
the Johnson party, which is saying a great deal. He may die — which Heaven forbid — • 
he may be chosen to a higher place, wl>ich the people forbid — but he will never resign. 
If any of our anxious politicians hope to get into Randall's shoes, let them be patient, 
and wait. With office-holders like Randall it is only a question of time — but still it is 
a question of time. — Tribune, May, 8, 1867. 



WJiat H G. Knows about Hon. Henry M. Rice, of Minnesota. 
"The XT. S. Military Reservation at Fort Suelling, Minnesota, which was in use as a 
fort up to the present season, has been sold, and one Francis Steele, (the word has an 
ominous sound,) an active Democratic partisan, appears as the purchaser. It is under- 
stood that Mr. Henry M. Rice, late Delegate in Congress from Minnesota, negotiated 
the sale on behalf of the Government, and, of course, there is a violent presumption 
that he knows how the clause above quoted found its way into the appropriation! l)i]l ; 
but we cannot assert this as a fact within our knowledge. All that is positively known 
is that an immense estate, belonging to the American people, has slipped slily out of 
their hands, and something has been slipped into them as an equivalent ; but how 
much, and what relation it beafs to the value of this property, we are left to guess. If, 
however, the Democratic Party of Minnesota should fall short of funds in the struggle 
just before them for want of a contribution of at least $100,000 from Rice, Steele & 
Co., on account of this one operation, then we shall insist that said party has been 
abominably swindled, and ought to make these gentlemen disgorge the Reservation." — 
Tribune, August 13, 1857. ^ 

19 



44 What Horace Greeley Knows 

What H. G. Knows ahout Hon. Robert B Roscvdt, of Netv York. 

"Mr. Rosevelt is a charming guntleman aud a capital fi&beriaau, but, he seems new to 
politics. After he has made two or three more unlucky eli'orts in running for Congress 
in the IVth District, he will discover that the Marshal does not have the appointment of 
Sapervisors. Besides, the duty of Supervisors is simply to watch Mr. Oakey Hall's 
Inspectors. Bat, surely, Mr. Rosevelt does not mean to say iJiat he has any fear of 
Oakey's men." — Tribune, November 7, 1870. 

What II. G. Knows ahout General RosecraV'S, 

" Gen. Rosecrans, as a soldier, was sometimes Criticised as a first-class strategist, but 
a poor tactician. As a Democratic Cundidate, the excellent general is likely hereafter 
to be described as a very fair Democrat in theory, but a dreadfully inconvenient one in 
praetice. His letter, declining the nomination of his party in Ohio, is not by any 
means acceptable as a whole to Republicans, and it must be very much more disagree- 
able to the Democrats. Of course the General is original and forcible, and somewhat 
erratic ; he always was. 

"Altogether, the reading of Gen. Rosecran's letter impresses us with a renewed sense 
of the feeling that it is a pity so good a man might not have been a better one. As it 
is, he comes very near being waste material. He is quite too good for the Democracy, 
and not near good enough for the Republicans."— Jn^wwe, August 28, 1809. 



What H. G. Knows about Hon. E G. Ross, of Kansas. 
"We print elsewhere a condensed abstract of the final report of the Impeachment 
Committee, relative to the corrupt means concerted and employed to obtain the ac- 
quittal of the President. It proves that ccmsiderable sums were obtained expressly to 
buy the votes of Senators, but that Senators who had, for months before Secretary 
Stanton was removed, been howling for impeachment, lobbying in the House for im- 
peachment, and Within a few days of the final vote had declared their intention to vote 
for impeachment on the specific articles then pending, were changed, and induced to 
vote for acquittal, to the stultification of their known sentiments and pledges, and to the 
astonishment of their colleagues. Such facts are barely consistent with the innocence 
of those whose votes are thus changed, as all circumstantial evidence of crime is barely 
consistent witti the innocence of the accused, though it is indicative of guilt, and com- 
pels suspicion. The country will enter in favor of the Senators over whom these cir- 
cumstances rest a verdict neither of guilty or not guilty, btit simply the Scotch ver- 
dict, 'not proven.' Senator Ross, who previously had no influence over appointments, 
suddenly acquires the control over Federal patronage, and secures the nomination of 
Lis rotten friend Perry Fuller for the office of Commissioner of Internal Revenue, an 
office eminently requiring a man of first-class abilities and thorough honesty." — Tribune, 
July 4. 1868. 

What H. G. Knows about Hon. William B. Reed, of Philadelphia. 

" William B. Reed, of Philadelphia, is a lawyer not without ability and experience. 
Being a lawyer, he will not complain if he is tried on the evidence which he furnishes 
against himself. He printed on the 5th of November, 18(32, 'A Paper containing a 
Statement and Vindication of Certain Political Opinions, read before the Democrat As- 
sociation, Chestnut Hill, November, 1862,' meant, says his brief preface, for his neigh- 
bors and personal friends. It was very carefully circulated, few copies coming into 
any hands but those of friends to Mr. Reed and sympathizers with its sentiments. Yet, 
even among them, the documeat was considered so openly treasonable and dangerously 
explicit that Mr. Reed was early advised to suppress it. The eflbrt was diligently made, 
but nevertheless a single copy found its way into a newspaper oflice and was publicly 
printed. There can be but one feeling on reading it — amazement that its author was 
not instantly arrested, summarily tried by court-martial or other speediest method, and 
promptly hanged or shot."— Tribune, February 17, 1863. 

What H. G. Knows about Capt. Rynders, of New York, and Friends. 

" The National Committees of the late Douglas aud Breckinridge parties undertook 
to forgather yesterday at the St. Nicholas, but after subtracting those members of 
either who are openly helping JefF. Davis destroy the country, and those who, for good 
and solid reasons, have renounced all connection with parties who fail to 'keep step to 
the music of the Union,' the attendance was necessarily slim. Ben. Wood and Fer- 
nando, however, were on hand, with Rynders, S. J. Tilden, and Dean Richmond, so 
that the oatsiders made up whatever the members lacked either in numbers or respecta- 

20 



About Leading Democrats. 45 

bility. Some newly-minted Deaiocrats — James Brooks, Eli P. ISorton, &c. — were also 
on hand, and seemed to enjoy the uovehy of their position. The Committees very 
properly declined to fix, at this time, the place for holding a Democratic Convention- 
Charleston, their last trysting-place, not being eligible at present." — Tribune^ September 
8, 1863. 

What H. G. Knows about A. SrJieU, Esq., of New Yorlc. 

"Mr. Collector Schell's nomination having been sent to the Senate for confirmation, 
we hope that a full investigation of his merits as a public officer may be had. We have 
heard of certain acts of Mr. SchcU which require some explanation. We are informed 
that soon after he received his present appointment an arrangement was made whereby 
parties connected with the Collector should reap a rich harvest from their intimacy with 
a powtrf'il friend of tiie new functionary. It seems that one William Mclutyro, who 
has owned The Daily Jfews, and to whom a mortgage on that paper for $20,000 has t)eea 
executed, made an arrangement with Mr. John "C. Mather, (whom Mr. Sc-hoU made a 
State Senator by means of the Customllouse patronage,) and a Mr. Bixby, who was a 
clerk in the Custom-House, for the purpose of carrying on the business of storage. The 
firm was known as Mclntyre, Bixby & Co. These parties are the personal friends and 
political supporters of Mr. Schell; although an arrangement had been made between 
Mr. Moses Odell and the late Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Guthrie, that all goods on 
general order should be sent to the store which Mr. Odell had taken, yet Mr. Schell 
managed to remove Odell, and appointed Messrs. Mclntyre, Bixby & Co. in hi^ place. 
The change had no other motive except to promote the interests of the new firm. The 
public interests had nothing to do with it. JS'ot satisfied with the sbare of plunder thus 
given to his friends, they were further provided for by a plan, which was, to say the 
least of it, illegal. The firm of Mclatyre, Mather and Richard Schell may expect to 
hear from us again. We propose to look a little into ihe mode in which Senators are 
nominated and General Committees managed, and how fort sites are sold, from Fort 
Suelling to New Bedford. We intend to ascertain who sell and who buy these profit- 
able localities, and before we finish we hope to show how the defences of the United 
Slates Treasury are s/ieferf by political engineers We Jiave now opened our first par- 
allel. The illustrious Fernando Wood had a ' Brother Ben. ;' the respectable Augustus 
Soliell has a brother Richard. Mr. Schell sustained Wood With all his energy and 
genius, and it is possible that Mr. Richard Schell has learned some of 'Brother Ben's 
peculiar accomplishments.' " — Tribune, January 21, 1853. 



Whal H. G. Knows about Hitn. Carl Sckurz, of M'ssouri. 

" The statement that Collector Edward Jussen, of Ciiicago, had recently been re- 
moved from office, by order of President Grant, because he wasa brother-io-huv of the 
Hon. Carl Schurz, is wholly unfounded. Mr. Jussen has not been removed from office, 
and ic was not until the publication of the statement referred to that the President was 
even made aware of his relationship to the Senator from Missouri." — Tribune, Septem- 
ber 27, 1870. 

" T/te TToj'W heralds a meditated banquet to Senator Schurz and the Editors of The 
St. Louis Democrat and The Ohic'f/o Tribune, who are nov-in this City. The Free-Tra- 
ders are at liberty to eat all the diuuers they pay for; and whether they pay $20 each 
for them, or les>!, or more, is nobody's business but their own. They have just as clear 
a right to appeal to Congress for an anti-Protective T.i. id', and to threaten vengeance if 
their demands are not conceded. . Our preference for celebrating victories after, rather 
than before they are won, is no rule for tiiem. Bat we submit that both Congress and 
the country have had quite enough of their liullying, and are not likely to recoil before 
their shouts, or their threats, and their assumption of authority to speak for ' The 
West' — to say that ' The West' will have, or won't stand— is of a piece with their 
many shams, which dupe none but themselves." — Tribune, Nomm^er2^, 1870. 



What 11. G. Ihieio about Admiral Raphael Semmcs. 

"Semmea— down in Dixie they call him 'Admiral' Semmes— was elected Judge of 
Probate of Mobile County, Ala., on the 7th in^t., by a unanimous vote. The other can- 
didate withdrew 'in consideration of the gallant services of Semmes during the war.' 
Was there no other vacant office in Alabama that this rover of the seas must be made 
gufP'dian of the widows and orphans, and set to adjudicate questions of property under 
dead men's wills'? We suppise he will look for precedents to the (J^ecisious of that 
Court wkicli held its sessions in the cabin of the Alabama by the light of burning ships 

21 



46 What Horace Greeley ■ Knows 

on the horizon, and award to the judge who delivered its august decree- the proceeds of 
its coudemuaiious. Who would not be willing to die for the sake of having his estate 
administered on by Judge Semmes?"— rnSif/ie, May 18, 1866. 



WJiat H. G. Knows about Gov. Horatio Seymour, of New York. 

" 'SEYMOUPt AND RUM ' was the war-cry broadly emblazoned on electioneering gags sus- 
pended from the sailor dance-houses and harlot-keeping groggeries of the Fourth Ward on the 
day of election. The unsophisticated denizens of (Uierry and upp«r Water streets had read the 
Veto carelessly, and overlooked all th:itpart of it which avouches the Governor's anxious concern 
for the progress of Temperance. They generally take their liquor neat down that way, and did 
not comprehend the necessity or policy of calling things by other names than their right ones. 
' Hkymiiuh ANn Rum ' was what they meant — Seymour for the sake of Rum, and Rum for the 
sake of Seymour — that was what they were after, and they knew no better way than the 
direct one. They were after votes for Seymour, and Rum was their best means of getting them; 
they Avere after immunity to Rum, and Seymour was the very boy ^o secure it for them. What 
phrase could more teisely avouch the spirit that thrilled ir their Dosoms than 'Seymour and 
Rum?' And they would seem to have succeeded. By a L.vish expenditure cf money, and a 
powerful organization, the Distillers and Liquor-dealers have succeeded in giving Seymour 
nearly or quite one-thiid of the entire vote of the State, which, as there are three or fonr can- 
didates running, three of them nearly together, have probably elected him. Two years ago, 
Seymour was chosen by a m;ijority of all the votes cast — receiving over Two Hundred and 
Sixty-fimr thousand — and now he is barely re-elected, having polled some One Hundred and 
Fifiy Thousand, or less than one vote for each dollar spent in his behalf by the rumsellers. 
And this is called a great Democratic victory — one that is celebrated wiih copious libations 
and yells of delight in every groggery, gambling-den, and brothel throughout the State. There 
is not an outlaw for crime's or an outcast for Vice's sake who does not approve the Veto and 
exult in the triumph of its author. They^ all recognize him as their protector, and be leans on 
them as his trusty compatriots and upholders. Hurrah for ' Seymour and Rum.'" — Tribune, 
Kovcmbcr 10, 1854. 

" Gov. Seymour promptly disarms the loyal citizens. When the insurrection of his 
' uolli^-hearted friends' last week was at its height, a detachment of the '7th Regiment was 
searching one of the most dangerous of the insurrectionary districts for arms. They found 
them in abundance — muskets, carbines, pikes, aud (jiher weapons. Suddenly an order came for 
them to desist aud return to the armory. Of course they obeyed, and returned to their Head- 
quarters, where they found Gov. Seymour. The order was understood to come fiom him, 
and to have been given on the ground that it would exasperate the rioters to proceed in the 
search ! Proceed according to law and obey the Governor. Be prepared also to maintain the 
law and the Governnjent and oliey common sense. The secession of South Carolina did not 
give h:.lf the evidence of a universal H{;utliern rebellion that the events of last week do of an 
attempt to take New York out of the Union." — Tribune, July 21, 18G3. 

" Governor Seymour has, from the outset, been a deadly foe to the War for the Union. He 

insisted from the first that the Republicans had no right to be Republicans — that it was not 
allowable for the North in 1860 to do in rciislance to slavery extension what Thdraas Jeff.TSon 
proposed and voted for in 1784. In the Tweddle Hall Convention in February, 18G1, he insisted 
that the Slave States would all s'^ede, and could not be overborne — that the Union could only 
be saved by prostration before the ^''ve Power. In this faith he soon after proposed that New 
York should join the Southern Conte(ur;Ky, and he has ever since been sailing virtually on 
the same tack. The ' reconstruction ' he seeks as the fit conclusion of our great struggle is 
substantially this. Accordingly his every eff-n-t since his unfortunate election two years since 
has been devoted to disparaging, obstructing, enfeebling, and paralyzing the War for the 
Union by causing the People to regard the Federal Administration, not the Rebel Slave Power, 
as ihi' enemy to be overthrown, and by reducing to the lowest possible figure the number and 
the efficiency of our State's contribution to the Union Armies. Ills last manifesto, like so many 
of his preceding eflforls, is specially directed to this end." — Tribune, January 2, 1865. 

" If the Democratic Convention had been intent on selecting that candidate for President least 
likely to win Repuljlican votes and most certain to arouse and intensify Republican opjiositiou, 
it could not have hit the mark more exactly. Horatio Scyra(iur has been the deadli"St, most 
implacable enemy throughout of the ideas which triumphed in the abolition of Slavery and 
discomfiture of the Retielliou. He was an open advocate and champion of that Nebraska bill 
whereby' Slavery shamelessly repudiated a solemn compact whereof she had reaped the full 
advantage, and strove to wrest Irom Free Lal)or a vast region which she b.id quit-claimed for 
a valuable consideration in hand. For the victims in Kansas of Border-Ruffian arSon, outrage, 
and murder, he had never a word of cheer or symii;.thy. He was for Buchanan against Fre- 
mont when this State gave the Pathfinder a plurality of 80,000. He was for anybody against 
♦ 2i 



About Leading Democrats. 47 

Lincoln in 18G0, when New Yoik gave the latter a clean majority of 50,000. Mr. Lincoln being 
elected, he insisted that the Repulilicans should cive up thtir cardinal principle of No Exten- 
sion of Slave Territory, or be held accountable for the Rebellion that the slavehidders would 
otherwise initiate. No man ever heard of his uttering a generous word for the ignorant, lowly, 
down-trodden African; all these he would disfranchise to-morrow if he had power, while he 
insists that the South sb.dl be given over to the keeping of her h.uightj' Piebels, who hold that 
they have committed no wrong and forfeited no right in conspiring and fighting to destroy the 
'Uinon." — 2Vibufie, July 10, 1868. 

" Gorernor Seymour being in our city and meeting here Judge Charles H. Buggies, asked 
him, 'Judge, have you read the Confederate Constitution ? * * * * I have; 
and it is preferable to the Federal Constitution. Now, why not avoid all trouble by ourselves 
adopting the Confederate Constitution? that is, by superseding the Federal by the Confederate 
Government, kicking out Lincoln, and making Davis our President.' "-^-Tribune. July 25, 1868. 

" Seymour's success as an orator-reminds us of the story of a clersryman who enjoyed greatly 
the luxury of listening to the melody of bis own voice. He deemed it his duty on one occasion 
to preach a long, elaborate, and very dull sermon to the artist to whom he was sitting for his 
likeness. ' What do you think of my remarks?' demanded the eloquent divine of the painter, 
who was whelly absorbed in his occupation. ' Turn your head a little to the right and keep 
your mouth shut, 'said the artist in his usual professional tone. All that Seymour ever needed 
to make his speeches what they should have been was to keep his head turned a little toward 
the right and to keep his mouth shut," — Trihuiie, July 31, 1868. 



What H. G. Knew about the late Gov. T. H. Seymour, of Connecticut. 

"Col. Seymour, of Connecticut, has opposed and denounced the War for the Union with a 
frankness and thoroughness which must command a certain measure of respect. He did not 
wait to find a pretext in ' arbitrary arrests ' or emancipation proclamations ; he has resorted to 
none of the dodges and subterfuges of his namesake of this State ; but has cor.demned the effort 
to maintain by force of arms the authority of the Union over the seceded States as a blunder 
and a crime, not at all calculated to restore the Union, but rather to render its 'reconstruc- 
tion' impossible." — Tribune, February 16, 1863. 



What H. G. Knows about Hon. William S?nith, of Virginia. 

"If the query would not be deemed impertinent, we should really like to know why- 
such notorious traitors as Extra Billy Smith are allowed to come and go freely at Wash- 
ington. This man is in close communion with the managing traitors in Virginia, is 
more heartily with and of them than Letcher, and is behind even Wise in nothing but 
courage, being a candidate for Jefi. Davis's Congress. While such as he may enter our 
lines at will, it would be folly for Beauregard to employ any ^a/t? spies. He can do 
better.'"— Tribune, May 18, 18(31. 

"Hon. Wm. Smith, of Warrenton, Fauquier county, Rebel Governor of Virginia, is 
a very low party hack — a poor successor even to John Letcher, save that he is quite 
commonly sober. Neither of them is of the old Virginia aristocracy, nor is either an 
especial devotee of Slavery, save as a powerful aid in keeping their party in power. 
Naturally, Smith is the jDoorer creature, though there are many points of similarity 
between them. When Gen. Jackson was elected President, he appointed William F. 
Barry Postmaster-General. Barry combined every possible disqualidcati6n for the post 
in greater perfection, probably, than any other man who ever lived. But he had been 
a Jackson Member of Congi'ess, and franked more electioneering documents than any 
one else, and had been the Jackson candidate for Governor of Kentucky in August, 
1828, but beaten in a close race by Thomas Metcalf, the old stone mason. His use in 
the Department was to distribute the Post Offices among the most eflective Jacksonians 
and to squander the public money upon the more extensive wire-workers of the party 
in the shape of extra allowances for services in carrying the mails. Smith wa.s tlien a 
heavy mail contractor in the South, and his 'extra allowances' were counted by re- 
peated tens of thousands. It was perfectly notorious that this money was given him to 
pay the expense not of running the mails, but of running the Democratic party. Smith 
obtained thence the sobriquet of 'Extra Billy,' which has stuck to him ever since. He 
used to rtin as a Democratic or Jackson candidate for delegate from Fauquier, then 
nicely balanced in politics, and having money to spend, was soiuetimes elected, though 
we think oftener defeated. Finally his usefulness to his party was rewarded by a Legis- 
lative election as Governor- of the State. Nothing more was needed to convince the 
people that the election of Governors by the Legislature was a blander, and they abol- 
ished it before the expiration of his term." — Tribune, June 17, 1SG3. 

23 • 



48 What Horace Greeley Knoius 

What H. G. Knew about the lale Edwin M. Stanton. 

" There was a time when Mr. Secretary Stanton could have retired wiihout descending from 
his proud position. We regret the fact ; but iTiat time has passed. The Secretary has stooped, 
and criiiiicd, and paltered, and truckled, till he may now be contemptuously' kicked out, with 
perfect safety to the kicker. And yet there is a low dei)lh of debasement, which even he may 
wisely avoid ; and that will be sounded if he now accepts a second-class mission, bestowed on 
him in scornful pity for his downfall." — Tribune, August 22, 1866. 



What TI. G. Knows about Hon. E. G. Squier, of New York. 

"In nnother part of to-day's paper will be found a letter from Mr. E. G. Squier, author of 
' Notes on Central Anieiica.' This htter bitterly comjilains of, and makes an attempt to re- 
fute, the comments which we thought it our duty to make soma weeks since, upon certaiu 
doctrines set forth in Mr. Squier's boolc, the propagation and carrying out of whi^h ajipear to 
have been a leading object of its publication. When .Mr. Squier comes to see his face in the 
faithful mirror which we hold up to him, he starts back in as much horror and affright as the 
unhardened are apt to show at the first realization of what they are coming to. He vociferously 
denies the truth of the likeness ; but that is a point which we shall willingly refer to the decision 
of every judicious and unprejudiced reader who will take the trouble to examine wiih care the 
extract from his book which we eive at IMr. Squier's request. We have means of knowing the 
condition of things in Jamaica, independeully of Jlr. .Squier. If he is as reckless — as his 
letter which we publish to-day seems to show that hesoni<>times is — in talking about Nicaragua 
as about Jamaica, then his ficts, he must allow us lo say, are just as worthless as hi? dot; mas 
and his reasonings. Central Ameiica, in pissing throu!.h a social crisis, such i>s all the Slates 
of Europe passed through two or three hundred years ago, has suffered from civil wars ; but we 
see no reason to doubt that, if the fillibusters will only let her alone, in due time she will come 
out of this crisis by the operation of natural causes, as the States of Europe did, and like them 
start forward on a career of improvement, satisfactory to the rest of the world if not to Mr. 
Squier and his brother fillibusters." — Tribune, March 19, 1856. 



What H. G. Knows about Pcler B. Sweeny, Es^., of New York. 

" Of the Tammany tribe the most famous are, as is well known, Warrior Peter B. Sweeny, 
celebrated for his cunning and wise counsels; Grand Sachem William M. Tweed, well known 
for his long purse and generous (some think to a fault) distribution of the public wampum 
among decre|iit and worn-out braves, who have done the tribe service ; Sachem R. B. Connolly, 
a cratly old warrior, popularly known as the great scalper of Oliver Charlick, the Rail Road 
King, .ind .Michael Connolly, the ijig judge, popularly known among- his familiars and admirers 
as the Daniel O'Connell of the Ameiicin Kenians. Those three chiefs are nionarchs of nearly 
all they survey. They own much wampum and lands, and have [larceled out among their own 
relations all the scalps that the tribes have taken." — Tribune, September 19, 1869. 

W7iat H. G. Knew about the late Chief Justice Taney. 

" Judge Taney's career has hardly been submitted to the calm criticism cf history, but it ia 
difficult not to believe that our essayist, in his judgment of the jurist's character, has anticipated 
the verdict of future generations. It is ginerous not to apply to Roger B. Taney a harsher 
name than ' The Unjust Judge.' What is considered as a defence in the case of Davis and Lee 
cannot a()ply to him. He was above ambition or envy. 'He had been placed in the first posi- 
tion of the judiciary — a position second only to that of the President. The events leading to 
this exaltation, however, throw a great deal of liirht upon his character. He was noininaied by 
Jackson— a man whose idiosyucracy it was to hate the Supreme Court. His nomination was 
the reward of a service which the haughty President in vain per.-^uaded better men lo i>erlurm. 
Taney hud been defeated by a hostile Senate for other posiiioris, and, the moment Marshall died, 
' the irritated President,' as our author mildly puts it, sent Taney's name to the Senate. The 
seat vacated by Marshall was occupied indeed, but not filled; and Taney never, duiitg his 
whole career, seemed to rise above the position of a partisan. He had the cast of mind which 
fits a lawyer for the duties of prosecuting attorney. He was the politician in robes-. He did all 
he could to deify Slavery and assist the traitors, who endeavored to overthrow the Union that 
it might triumph. When the North rose in its majesty, he was as busy in his efforts to stay 
the enthusiasm as Mrs. Partington with her mop when the ocean came pouring over her door- 
way. The efforts of one were about as futile as those of the other. History has only to do with 
motives." — Tribune, August2b, 1865. 

What n. G Knows about James S. Thayer, of New York. 

" The Democratic party of our State has made for itself a most unenviable record. In mid- 
winter of i860-' I, some five weeks before President Lincoln's inauguration, it held a State 
Convention in Tweddle Hall, Albany. Horatio Seymour, now Governor, was a prominent 

21 



•' About Leading Democrats. 49 

speaker therein ; would-be Governor Aciasa J. Parker was its President, and aa unusually 
large number of its leaders were delegates. The treason there conspicuously enac'ing of Bu- 
chanan, Cobb, FIojhI, Jake Tliompc-on, Toucey & Co., wliereby the Union was beino; pusillaui- 
tnously surrendered with uit a shot or blow iu its behalf, received no whisper of rebuke from 
that convention. The Rheits and Yauceys and Jeff. Davises who were tearing the country ia 
pieces were not even invited to behave themselves. The whole drift and aim of this Democratic 
Convention tended to dishearten and demoralize the Loyal North into abasement at the I'eet of 
the traitorous, domineering Slave Power. 

" • Yon can't subdue the South. You must placate her or the Union is lost.' Such was the 
burden of Mr. Seymour's harangues. The Republicans must ce;rse to be Republicans, or the 
Union had already ceased to exist ; such was the cry of the Convention. And James S. Tnayer, 
amid universal plaudits, proclaimed unmeasured hostility to anj- coercion of the revolted South 
under the pretext of enforcing the laws. When the proceedings of this Convention reached 
Washington, the conspirators who had not yet deserted their seats in Congress siiowed them 
exultingly to Republicai.s, saying, If you attempt coercion, vou will find more than your 
match in New York, without coming South for enemies." — Tribune, April 29, 1863. 

What H. G. Knows about Jlon. Jacob Thompson, of Mississippi. 

"Jacob Thompson holds that all his repeated oaths of fidelity to the Federal Consti- 
tution and Government wore taken subject to the condition that Mississippi should not 
see fit to secede from the Union ; that if at any' time she should secede, no matter whether 
with or without reason, he should be not merelj' at liberty but under obligation to stand 
•with her against the Union and to fight with her to destroy the Union. This, if we 
comprehend Mr. T., was an implied condition of his oath of allegiance— an tinderstood 
part of it. Now, we hohJ this docti ine worse and more irrational than Slavery, ita 
source worse than the Rebellion, their natural child. A country which may at any time 
be torn in pieces by the mere freak of a fiftieth part of its people we pray never" to be 
doomed to inhabit. Many persons seem exceedingly anxious as to who and how many 
shall be put to death for their complicity in the Rebellion. We insist that examples 
shall be made of the two chief culprits, whose names are Slavery and State Sovereignty." 
—Tribune, May 23, 1865. 

What H. G. Knows about Ex Gov. Throckmorton, of Texas. 

'* Ex-Gov. Throckmorton, of Texas, whose removal from office for disloyalty was one 
of the last public actions of brave Phil. Slicridan in the Department of the Gulf, has 
written for publication a private letter, in which, after lamenting that the recent regis- 
tration orders of Gen. Griffing, instead of 'filling the whole State with a howl of indig- 
nation,' scarcely received a comment or a passing notice, he proceeds to raise a howl of 
his own, and to advise his fellow-citizens in the most violent language agaius*, holding a 
Convention. If Texas is readmitted to the Union, he urges, under the Congress plan of 
reconstruction, we shall have negroes at the polls, negroes iu the jury-box, and, v\hat is 
worse than all, a Radical Government, with the certainty of a Radical electoral vote for 
the next President. But if we hold out, Andy Johnson will yet conquer. He will get 
us in again on our own terms. His proclamation of amnesty will enfranchise every one 
of us, and enable us to beat the infernal niggers as badly at the polls as we used to beat 
them in the cotton fields. Now, who is it that keeps the Southern States out of the 
Union? Is it Congress, which offers them generous and liberal terms of restoration,. or 
the rampant Rebels, like Throckmorton, who counsel them to stay out until they can 
make their return in triumph, with the Confederate colors flying and the poor freedmen 
chained to their chariot wheels?" — Tribune, Odobei' 29, 1807. 



What H. G. Knows about Mr. Theodore Tillon. 

"If apples are wormy this year, and grapes mildevv, p.nd duck's eggs addle, and bladed 
corn be lodged, it may all be ascribed to the unhallowed influence of Mr. Tilton's Life 
of Victoria W^oodhull, of which we give copious extracts in another place. It is cer- 
tainly the mo.st extraordinary book ever written out of Bedlam. Its richness of inven- 
tion, its naive ignorance, and its innocent immorality cause us to womicr whether the 
vetran romancer, Paul de Kock, who died last week, did not amuse his first leisure 
hours in the Spirit World by dictating this preposterous book to the editor of Hie 
Golden Age.'' — Tribune, Ssptember 11, 1871. 

"In fact, no person who holds with Mr. Tilton has any right to marry at all. He 
has no right to the honors of marriage while he repudiates its essential obligation. 
The union that Mr. Tilton believes in is not marriage at all, but something radically 

25 



50 What Horace Greeley Knows • 

diverse from that. It is the marriage ' a la jacque' of Parisian workmen and grisettes, 
which is expected to last a year, but often disappoints that expectation. Those who 
hold it superior to Christian marriage should prove their faith l)y giviug it a distinctive 
name. Words are things, and Marriage is not what any one may clioose to have it, but 
is defined by the dictionaries. If the Free-Lovers are not ashamed of their creed, let 
them prove it by giving a distinguishing name to their substitute for marriage. " — Tri 
bune, October 10,*1871. 

What H. G. Knows about Hon. Lyman Tru7nbull, of Illinois. 

"Senator Trumbull nevel- gave his Republican colleagues a hint of hie hostility to 
impeachment up to the moment of his unmasking on Monday of this week, though he 
had very recently attended meetings of those colleagues of a friendly and confidential 
character. We are assured that his Democratic son had quietly made bets through 
third parlies, by which he expects to win $5,000 by his fatlier's resistance to irapeaoii- 
ment. The Republican protests against these shots from behind. True, it lost its be- 
loved President by such a one ; but Wilkes Booth never pretended to be a Republi- 
cau, as its present assailants have c^oue. If there be move traitors nestling in its bosom, 
is it too much to ask them to come to the liglit ?" — Tribune, May 14, 1868. 

" The leading Copperheads of Chicago were fully apprised that Senator Trumbull 
would vote to acquit long before his Republican brethren representing Illiaois in the 
House were aware of it. ' Was that done like Cassius ?' " — Tribune, May 18, 1868. 



^Y/^at H. G. Knows ahout Mr. William M. Tweed, of New York. 

" Recorder Hoffman has a good reputation, which we would not tarnish, but when 
we see that V\HlUam M. Tweed is Chairman of the Committee which is managing his 
canvass, we don't want him elected Mayor. We hear whispers that he will turn against 
and rout out Cornell, Tweed & Co., if choson, and possibly he thinks he may ; but, 
should he be successful, he will find it impossible to fulfil his virtuous resolve. 'The 
Ring' nominated him ; ' The Ring' will elect him, should he be elected, and ' the Ring' 
will be his master, in spite of himself. The law of political affinity is irresistible." — 
Tribune, Kovember 27, 1805. 

"Politicians have not forgotten the touching perplexity of Daniel Webster when, 
finding himself out of office and deserted by his party, he enquired, 'And where on 
earth am I to go? ' The troubles of the great expounder live again, we are sorry to say, 
in the bosom of our unfortunate friend. The World, which, having for some time been 
out of office in the capacity of a journal of news, now finds itself distinctly repudiated 
and gone back upon by its own party as an organ of opinion. Two years ago The 
World ventured to have an opinion on a political subject without the permission of Mr. 
W^illiam M. Tweed, and Mr. Tweed immediately knocked it down. Now it has taken 
a similiar libertj^, and Mr. Tweed not only knocks it down but sits on it afterward. It 
is a very sad case, and proves that papers with opinions have no l)usiness in the Tam- 
many party. We really do not see where Tiie World can go. It is too old to learn the 
profession of journalism, and, besides, the business of procuring news is already monopo- 
lized by The Tribune. It cannot devote itself to the police courts, for there it would be 
sure to fall foul of the party. It can print; lectures on Positiveism, but that is a poor 
way of making a liviuff. Upon the whole we can think of nothing better for it than to 
make a fine long valedictory address and then die decently." — Tribune, October 1, 1870. 

" Tweed's victory at Rochester is more complete than our worst anticipations fore- 
boded. He was virtually recognized as the leader of our City Democrats; his Commit- 
tee is still its accredited organ; his ticket will be the regular Democracy ticket; and our 
plundered citizens and their ballot-boxes are delivered over by the Sham Democracy to 
the uncovenauted mercies of his satellite thieves and ruffians. There was never a moi*e 
disgraceful back-down than that of the Seymours and Kernans and Tildens, quailing 
before the aud»icity of this embodiment of wholesale corruption anci vulgar profiigacy. 
We saw, three days ago, that the habitual misleaders of the German Democrats of our 
City were preparing to knuckle to Tweed; we knew that the Democratic managers of 
this emporium were rotten to the core; yet we still put faith in the resolution and the 
power of Seymour and f -^ rural chiefs. At last, we saw that they, too, would give 
way or be overborne — that I'veedwould not be denounced and excommunicated in 
earnest; and yet we supposed that a sense of decency and of party necessity would 
impel the Convention to put him in Coventry in appearance, though not in reality. 
We t)elieved and trusted too far. Tweed went, and saw, and conquered. The Conven- 

26 



About Leading Democrats. 51 

tion proved a playtliing iu his hands. Tilden's empty talk about Democratic purity 
was turned to ridicule by the acUou which immediatelj'' followed. If ever party was 
disgraced by gigantic peculation, theu Tweed and Co. have shamed the Democratic 
parly beyoad ail precedent. Yet his immense wealth, so foully won, his unmeasured 
power to mate ballot-boxes lie, his lavish disbursements, and his matchless audacity, 
have enabled him to triumph over public indignation and a formidable array of arlver- 
saries, and he returns from Rochester master of the situation." — Tribune^ October 5, 
1871. 

" Tweed is very different. He was bankrupt less tban^twelve years ago — that he soon 
after obtained a position under our City or County administration — that he vaulted 
thence into the Board of Supervisors, whereof he soon became official chief and recog- 
nized master spirit — that he has ever since lived like a prince and. lavished money on 
every side — and that he. is now the owner of some Fifteen or Twenty millions worth 
of real estate, though his personal and family expenses cannot fall belaw $200,000 per 
annum." — Tribune, October 7, 1871. 



What H. G. Knew ahout President John Tyler, 

" John Tyler seems to have an inborn constitutional horror of eveiytklng that weara 
the semblance of honesty, and the bare discovery of some course of conduct to which 
he was once solemnly pledged is all that is needed to set him upon its most open and 
atrocious violation. Under Martin VanBuren the abuse of official patronage seemed to 
have reached its lowest depth, and we believe no man on earth could have found a ' lower 
deep' save the man who is now scouring the very gutters of our city for the willing 
instruments of his corrupt designs. It is by such desperate and contemptible knavery 
as this that John Tyler seeks to fasten upon the people the curse of his rule; but he will 
find ere long that instead of postponing, he only adds fiercer fury to the indignation 
they will pour upon his head. — Tribune, August 23, 1842. 



What H. G. Knows about Daniel Webster, of Massachtisetts. 

" It is not strange, therefore, that sundry Boston gentlemen, should, by dint of hard 
drinking and eating, persuade themselves that they are especial guardians of the name 
of Webster, the especial inheritors of the princi|des of Webster, the especial philoso- 
phers to whom alone the length and breadth and thickness and beauty of his character 
have been adequately revealed. But we do think it rather a hard case that one who 
spent his life, his strength, his talents, his unusual powers in battling against the Demo- 
cratic party, and to whom w^ are indebted for some of the brightest Ulustratioas of its 
perfidy to Freedom, and of its subserviency to slavery, should now be obliged to depend 
upon those ancient Damocrats, the Hon. Rufus Ghoate and the Hon. Caleb Gushing, for 
eulogium. Yes, this beautiful brace of Democratic charmers, who are supporting 
James Buchanan, whom Mr. Webster denounced and despised— Free Trade, which Mr. 
Webster denounced— the Extension of Slavery, which Mr. Webster denoanced — 
Executive Corruption, which Mr. Webster denounced — War waged for the acqui- 
sition of Foreign Territory, which Mr. Webster denounced — rehearse his virtues and 
recapitulate his services. There never^ was such a hugger-mugger attempted 
before since the world was created. That statesman who leaves a name only 
is sincerely to be pitied. It is upon deeds, not words, that true reputation must rest. 
Fame is no plant that grows in mortal soil, and as the soil of Marshfield was emphati- 
cally mortal, we do not think Mr. Choate's top-dressing, or Mr. Cushing's sub-dressing 
will make it particularly heavenly." — Tribune, January 3, 1859. 

What H. G. Knoics ahout Hon. Gideon Welles, of Connecticut. 

" What the House really mean by this proviso is to condemn the arrangement of 
Secretary Welles, wherel)y his brother-in-law, George D. Morgan, was enabled to pocket 
$70,000 to $90,000 for a light three months' work- very greatly, Mr. Welles thinks, to 
the advantage of the Grovernment, but not at all, we all know, to the satisfaction of the 
iPeople. Everything that Mr. Welles or Mr. Morgan has to say in their own justifica- 
tion has been said, printed, read, and considered; yet the public is not satisfied. The 
very decidedly prevalent belief is that Mr. Morgm has pocketed as least $00,000 that 
ought to have been left in the Treasury, and that, if he does not choose to restore it, 
Mr. Welles ought to resign." — Tribune, February 15, 1862. 

What H. G. Knows ahout Mr David A. Wells, of Connecticut. 

^^ The St. Louis Democrat named several eminent champions of its Anii-Protectave 
views, and challenged us to say whether their course was or was not influenced by 

27 



52 What Horace Greeley Knows 

mbney. We— thus constraiued to give our opinion— replied that Mr. Wm. C. Bryant 
had always been a Free Trader, and we doubted not that this was his honest conviction; 
but we could not say the same of M)-. Wells, because, while prof esdng to be a ProUcliomst^. 
the whole drift of his report was clearly intended to prove Protection a folly or a fraad. 
Thus he was understood by all — Protectionists and Free Traders alike — and, since it 
was not credible that he alone should fail to comprehend the scope and purport of his 
teachings, we must believe that he was earning a subsidy by his crooked course." — Tri- 
bune, December 10, 1869. 

"Mr. Wells begins by pitching protection over board, and while professing to ignore 
the issue between Protection and Free Trade, in fact assumes the fundamental positions 
of the Free Traders .as axioms which no one disputes. He has thus made up a most 
unfair and injurious exhibit of our Financial and Industrial status which the Free Tra- 
ders are pushing into circulation as though Mr. Wells were a disinterested umpire in- 
stead of an intense partisan. Mr. Kelley meets him point by point, and shows wherein 
and how he has dealt unfairly and unjustly with the great interests which he so bitterly 
assails, and the benignant policy which he aims to crush out." — Tribune, January IT, 
1870. 

• — 

" We heartily rejoice that Mr. D. A. Wells, like his illustrious predecessor, Mr. Alex. 
Delmar, has gone straight to his own place. Our readers need m) further announcement 
to understand that Mr. Wells is at last among the Democrats, where he has to hmg be- 
longed; though they may be a little surprised to find that he could fall so fast as to be- 
come already an appointee of Gov. John T. Hoffman's. Long may he remain in sucIk 
congenial company. Yet, after all, we fear that he cannot be sure of protracted tenure^ 
of office under HoUiiian. He is a squeezed orange. His power for harm is destroyed 
when he is forced to fight under his oivn colors. His reputation is the most al)surdly 
inflated erne in the United States; he may novv find how little it will profit him when re- 
moval from our councils has pricked the bladder." — Tribaiie, June 15, 1870. 

" That ' one renegade is worse than ten Turks,' is a very old saw, forcibly illustrated 
in the instance of Mr. David A. Wells. . That gentleman has just issued an essay on Po- 
litical Economy, written for the meridian of Euglaud, and paid for by the Cobden Club, 
wherein he speaks of a pamphlet intended to prove our National Debt .«o much national 
capital, and adds: 'As this pamphlet, from its quasi-government indorsement, was ex- 
tensively circulated, and will undoubtedly go down to history as one of the most 
curious of financial absurdities, it is desirable to state that its author was Samuel WUk- 
eson, at that time a meiid)er of the editorial corps of The New York Tribune.'' This as- 
sertion is false. Mr. Wilkeson left our employment when he entered that of Messrs. 
Jay Cooke &d Co., in whose service that Pamphlet was written. But suppose it had lieea 
true. What of it? Mr. Wilkeson had never any more control of the opinions or course 
of The Tribune than Mr. Wells himself; and the Editor of this Journal dissented from 
the doctrine of that pamphlet when it appeared, and has ever been foremost in insist- 
ing that the Debt should be constantly and vigorously reduced until its payment shall 
have been completed. Mr. Wells, knowing all this, writes for Englishmen who do not 
know it, in terms which, if literally true, would yet deceive and mislead his readers. 
His new masters are welcome to all they can make by such dishonesty." — Tribune, Feb- 
ruary 9, 1872. 

What H. G. Knows about Hon. Charles A. WicJcHJ-e, of KenlucJcy. 

"The Copperheads and stay-at-home Rebels of Kentucky have at length obtained a 
candidate for Governor. The Hon. Charles A. Wickliffe is the man. He is the son of 
the late Robert Wicklifl'e, of Lexington, commonly known as ' the old Duke, ' who 
was for years probablv the richest man and most extensive slaveholder in the State. 
The WicklifFes were Whigs, and strong friends of Clay thirty years ago, but finally fell 
away from him, attracted by the superior devotion of ' the Democracy' to the interests 
of slavery. Charles, 'the ynung Duke' of a quarter of a century back, is now of a 
ripe age, and the heir of most of his father's great wealth. He was chosen to the la'st 
Congress as a ' Union' man, pursued an extreme Pro-Slavery course in Congress, and is 
in the fullest sympathy with the extreme Copperheads of the West. In his letter con- 
senting to run, he plants himself upon the Ohio Vallandigham platform."— 7Wi«;/6, 
June 29, 1863. 



What 11. G. Knows ahout Mr. George Wilkes, of New Yorlc. 

"Mr. George Wilkes edits a good newspaper. It has interesting information about 
horses and fish. It is au authority on trotting-matches and billiards. When the Tiplon 



28 



About Leading Democrats. 53 

Slasher bruises the manly face of the Staley'oriclge Chicken, Mr. Wilkes is the highest 
authority we have as to who proved the best man. In these departments lie is un- 
.rivaled. Sometimes he goes beyond this limited sphere and writes good articles on 
politics, for he is a strong writer. This is, no doubt, useful, but we fancy his readers 
find the horse and billiard columns more entertaining, and it is a pity he should go be- 
yond these special features to start a movement which threatens to become a new 
Whisky Rebelliou. We tiave had articles on Liberty and Despotism, and meetings of 
the rumsellers, combinations, and pledges and subscriptions. The subscriptions go to- 
ward the publication of a gorgeously engraved pledge, over which we have Cbrist bless- 
ing the Wine at Cana. This sublime conception could only come from Mr. Wilkes, 
■who is the head and front of the new movement, as very few of his present followers 
ever heard of Christ. The whisky dealers of New York, carrying a banner with Christ 
blessing wine painted upon it, and Mr. Geo. Wilkes riding at the head, would be a sub- 
lime spectacle, almost as imposing as the London rioters when Lord George Gordon 
commanded. We presume the police would keep Broadway clear, and preserve the 
peace. But when the whisky dealers go beyond this, and threaten to disregard the 
law in a body, and invite the interference of the police, it is another matter. The law 
is to be violated, and the authorities are to be defied, and anarchy is to be invoked. 
We advise Mr. Wilkes to leave rebellion alone, and confine himself to the special 
topics of his profession. There he is unrivaled. In his new vocation he may get into 
jail, or otherwise be sorely distressed. The whisky trade would not be a whit im- 
proved, and the interests of journalism might suffer." — Tribune, June 28, 1867. 



What H. G. Knoiis ahuut Hon. G. W. Woodward, of Pennsylvania. 

"Judge Woodward, who is the Vallandigham of Pennsylvania, is by far the craftier 
politician, has an excellent talent for silence, and will secure a good many votes from 
thorougbly loyal men." * * * "Woodward differs from Vallandigham as a man 
in a fog differs from one in bright sunshine. He, too, never uttered one word of cheer 
for the soldiers of the Union. He never intimated that they were fighting in a just 
cause. He never expressed a desire that their efforts and sacrifices should be crowned 
with success. He never tried to shorten their privations or diminish their perils by 
increasing their number. He did not wait for the proclamation of Freedom to supply 
him with a pretext for opposing the war. On the contrary, he pronounced against 
' Coercion '—that is, against compelling slaveholders to stop stealing the Nation's 
property and shooting its defenders— at the very outset of the struggle. He, early in 
1861, declared that, if the Uni(m was to be divided by Secession, he wished the line of 
separation run north of Pennsylvania. He has evinced from the outset sympathy with 
the Rebels in almost evervthing, with their antagonists in nothing. Even after his 
nomination for Governor, "l)eing on his way to the battle-field of Gettysburg, then red 
with patriot blood, heroically poured out for the salvation of the Union, he declared to 
his fellow-passengers that he had no sympathy with the struggle in which these Union 
martyrs had lost their lives. Such is the man for whom George B. McClellan has been 
electioneerins, and whom Jeff. Davis hopes to hail as the next Governor of Pennsyl- 
vania." — Tribune, October 12, 1863. 

What H. G. Knows about the late C. L. Vallandigham. 

"The views of Mr. Vallandigham, respecting the probable resurrection of the Dem- 
ocratic party are certainly entitled to decent consideration. For he is one of the few 
survivors. He is a spared remnant. The waves which drowned so many of his com- 
panions washed him as a curiosity to the shore. He is a sort of penultimate man, left 
to tell the tale of his party's shipwreck — how it domineered, and how it diminished — 
novv swaj^ed all things under Jackson, and then was palsied under Bachanan— how it 
was stung to death by sUvehoLHng ingratitude, and, in the opinion of all persons of 
ordinarj' nostrils, should long ago have been spaded out of sight and out of smell, and 
would have been biTt for the jiathetic faith of Mr. V. and of his cronies, who are enti- 
tled, for their disbelief in its mortality, to a bushel of copper medals from the Humane 
Society." — Tribune, January 22, 1806. 



What H G. Knows about Hon. Benjamin Wood, of Ncio YorJc. 

"Ben. Wood has had a reception at Washington not exactly to his fancy. It is re- 
lated in our dispatches that the Major of a New York regiment publicly denounced 
Brother Ben. and Brother Fernando as unmitigated traitors; and added, very unwisely, 
a threat about bloodshed under certain contingencies." — Tribune, July 4, 1861. 

"Mr. Benjamin Wood is now a "candidate for re-election to Congress, not merely by 
nomination from the Sham Democracy of his district, but by a contract with Mozart 

29 



54 What Horace Greeley Knows 

Hall, to whicli Tammany Hall is a party. He is thus the candidate oi the entire Sey- 
mour party of this city. That party pretends to be in favor of a vigorous prosecution 
of the War for the Union, until the Rebels shall lay down their arms and resume the 
fulfillment of their repudiated constitutional obligations. Bat Mr. Wood has never yet 
pretended to unite in this profession. On the contrary, he will be found to have voted 
against or dodged everj' bill that has been submitted to the House intended to strengthen 
the arm that strikes for the vindication of constitutional authority and national integrity. 
Throughout the two last eventful sessions of Congress, we can remember no single in- 
stance in which he voted for a bill that JefF. Davis would have witshed defeated, or failed 
to support any proposition that JefF. would have wished to seei succeed." — Tribune, Oc- 
tober %-i, 1862. 

What H. 6r. Knows aboict Hon. Fernando Wood. 

"The 'Hard' and the ' Soft' IMayoralty Conventions did a good night's work for 
City Reform last evening in uniting on Fernando Wood as their candidate for Mayor. 
We welcome this as about the last nail in the cofQa of the Primary-Election swindle. 
Mr. Wood has been twice a candidate before the electors of our City — lirst for Con- 
gress, when he ran at the foot of his ticket in a time of intense party excitement ; next 
for Miyor, when he was horribly beaten by Ambrose C. Kingslaud. The reasons for 
this defeat are entirely personal to Mr. Woo;l. We do not choose to go into them, 
deeming it unnecessary. The judgment of this community is fully made up with 
regard to Mr, Wood's character, and cannot be reversed. His nomination will bring a 
good many citizens to the polls who would else have stayed away." — Tribune, October 
10, 1854. 

" On the 7th of November, 1851, the Grand Jury of this City and County found a bill of 
indictment against Fernando Wood, now candidate for Mayor, for alleged fraudulent 
transactions growing out of the business of a partnership between him and Edward E. Mar- 
vine. These alleged fratids were of a serious nature and very numerous, embracing a 
forged bill of sale, forged letters and papers, and forged or altered bills of account relat- 
ing to the partnership. A civil suir, founded on the same transaction, was pending, and is 
still pending before referees, in which the testimony is very voluminous, and we shall 
take a look at it as soon as we can conveniently. But the indictment was summarily 
disposed of by the then Recorder, F. A. Tallmadge. Wood jylewled the Statute of Lim- 
ztations. The Revised Statutes enact that an otFence is not indictable after the lapse of 
three years from its commission. It so happened, in this case, that the alleged offejice 
upon which the indictment was found was committed on the 7th day of November, 
1848, and that the indictment was fouad and tiled in Court on the 7th day of November, 
1851. The Court decided that the day on which the offence was committed should be 
included, and thus three years had elapsed. Thus the decision was in favor of quashing 
the indictment. It is true that the first fraudulent transaction alleged was on the 7th 
of November, 1848, but subsequent frauds are alleged, runniog throughout several days. 
The very fact of pleading the Statute of Limitations in a charge of fraud does not strike 
us favorably. An honest man, having done no act of a criminal nature, wotild not be 
ikely to make such a plea. But that such a plea was set up in behalf of Mr. Wood, and 
sustained by the Recorder, is beyond doubt. The case is summarily reported in The 
Neio York Legal Observer, Vol. X, for 1853, (pp. 01-63,) to which periodical we refer all 
who feel an interest in the matter. We are assured that a check of $rOi) drawn by Mr. 
Wood in favor of the Recorder, who made the decision, passed through a broker's 
hands and was cashed in bank about the same time; but that, of course, had no refer- 
ence to the decision." — Trimne, November 4, 1854. 

"There are still other fields for honorable achievement, where Mayor Wood's exten- 
sive knowledge will no doubt be of great value; for iastance, lottery and policy gam- 
bling, in which hundreds of men are engaged as dealers and backers, some of them be- 
longing, apparently, to the most respectable class of society, and filling high positions in 
public estimation, living in splendor from the pennies picked up by 'staliou numbers,' 
'gigs,' and ' saddles.' Then the unlicensed pawnbrokers, the receivers of stolen goods, 
the prize-fighters, badger-baiters, cock-fighters, and high and low gamblers must also be 
attended to." — Tribune, January 27, 1855. 

"The defeat of Fernando Wood at Syracuse is one of the most instructive political 
lessons of our day. Here is a man of decided talent, untiring industry, and consider- 
able executive al)ility, who might have been anyttiiDg he chose if Providence had 
blessed him with a reasonable share of honesty. Though his earlier life had been stained 
by serious errors, there was a very general disposition to forget all these and open a clean 

30 



About Leading Democrats. 55 

set of books with him on his accession to the Mayoralty. And he, too, really seemed 
for a season disposed to do what was right, a^d seek advancement through integrity and 
fidelity to his official obligations. Had he adhered to his good resolves, and set his face 
like a flint against the manifold vices which deform our city, and by which cunning 
knaves live at the expense of weak dupes, he would this day have been the most widely 
popular man in the land. Mr. Wood should be wise enough to realize that the true end 
of Government is not the protection and patronage of skillful roguery and well-varnished 
vice, but the defence of the upright, the industrious, the innocent, against the arts and 
frauds of policy-sellers, baggage-smashers, emigrant-swindlers, and the multiform va- 
rieties of schemers to make gain of others' weaknesses, ignorance, and frailties, for 
whose support he has of late so successfully, yet in the end so fruitlessly, played." — 
Tribune, August 1, 1856. 

"Mr. Fernando Wood has been several times a candidate before his fellow-citizens 
of this Emporium for important offices, and — we say it to the credit of their discern- 
ment and integrity — has never, we believe, failed to run lowest of any man on his ticket. 
For Mayor, he has twice procured a 'regular Democratic' nominaiiou, which was, in 
either case, equivalent to an election; but never has a majority of our citizens honored 
him with their confidence or their fuflVages as a candidate for that post. No matter 
though the gamblers, the short-boys, and the grogseilcrs instinctively recognized him as 
their crony and champion, and rolled up for him enormous majorities — far beyond any 
that could be obtained by legal votes — in every locality notorious for debauchery and 
crime, he was always placed in the minority by the votes of those who read and think, 
and who gain a livelihood by mean^wbich do not need Police connivance to screen 
them from the blows of Justice. Even last Fall, with a Police power equal to ten 
thousand votes, which was exerted to the utmost, and with a Buchanan furor in our 
city which would have secured a majority for Mayor to any other man running on the 
same ticket, Wood was beaten more than Eight Thousand votes, and only slipped in 
through divisions among his adversaries, which only a Presidential contest could have 
rendered eSectual. And we take all citizens to witness, that whatever grave diiferences 
did and do exist on other subjects, there is no diflerence at all among the Forty-three 
Thousand Electors who last Fall voted against Fernando Wood as to the justice and 
urgent expediency of stripping this bold, bad man of a portion of his grossly-abused 
power."— 7'n5«?ie, May G, 1857. 

" There are certain venomous snakes which have the faculty, when cut to pieces, of 
reuniting their dissevered bodies, and prolonging their hideous existence until the heel 
of some courageous traveler crushes the poisonous head to atoms, and lets out at once 
the venom and the life. One of these political snakes was thus finished last night. 
Heretofore cast out, cut in pieces, hedged around with fire, piled mountain-high with 
loads of public scorn, he has managed to escape from every assault, and again and 
again raise his hundred heads against whatever Hercules might oppose. Now, it would 
seem, the work is complete, and he lies prone in the mire, utterly overthrown, without 
even a wiggle left in the remotest extremity of his political anatomy. Fernando Wood, 
driven from official power by an outraged and indignant people, has been, since De- 
cember last, using all his well known abilities to get the control of the Tammany So- 
ciety, in which event he would have been the autocrat of the Democratic party, and 
controller of all nominations, from his own for Governor down to aldermen and con- 
stables. For this he has worked night and day, in ever}^ conceivable manner, except 
openly, and with every agent whom he could cajole or threaten into his service. At 
Washington, at Albany, and at home, his labors have been unremitting. An oath-bound 
secret society was formed by liis friends, and the mystery of midnight conclaves, with 
grand visibles and grand invisibles, was a means used to frighten the timid and create 
an idea that his power was invincible. Last night the battle can^e ofi", and IMr. Wood 
suffered a defeat perfectly overwhelming. At the same hour his valuable friend and 
note-indorser, Charles Devlin, was removed from office, and the whole gang of contrac- 
tors and camp-followers who, last year, fought Wood's battle or furnished the sinews 
of war, were driven in di grace from the public treasury. Unless the ex-Mayor pos- 
sesses the vitality of a toad imbedded in a rock, he may be considered finished." — Tri- 
bune, April 20, 1858. 

"Fernando Wood has been on both sides of every division in the New York Democ- 
racy from the time he became conspicuous as a politician. In the severe struggle of 
1848 he hung on the wings of both factions; in the famous feud of 1853 he sided with 
the Softs, reporting the resolutions in their branch of the State Convention of that 
year; and he has only professed to be a ' Hard' when his own aggrandizement seemed 
to demand such a course. In a word, he has been a mere skirmisher, a Swiss, a Du- 
al 



56 WJiat Horace Greeley Knows. 

gald Dalgetty, fighting under the flag that would pay best; while Dickinson, though 
sometimes sorely tempted, has had no more.thought, through his loug life, of lifting his 
blade even for an noar in aught but the ' regular' service, thau had Soult of joining 
the Guerrillas when commaudiDg the French army in Spain." — Tribune, July i, 18G0. 

" On the 31st day of January, 1861, Mayor Wood was piesented by the Grand Jury 
of this City as a dangerous man. They said, in allusion to his message : ' The sedi- 
tionary doctrines enunciated throughout the recently publislied papers of the highest 
'executive officer of this city we look upon as being too well calculated to pander to the 
worst passions of dangerous combinations of persons in our midst, by no means incon- 
siderable in point of numbers, and at times exhibiting riotous profligacy.' The man 
thus re'.tuked ten months ago by a legal tribunal deserves it as much now as then. If 
he is again chosen Mayor, it will be solely by that class who are watching and wailing 
for the opportunity to let loose 'the worst passions of dangerous combinations,' and 
their 'riotous profligacy' will be encouraged, if a good opportunity occurs, by that 
bold, bad man, for his own purposes. There are voters eni)ugh in this City to give this 
dangerous portion of our population and its leaders to understand that they are to be 
held to a strict re«ponsibiUty to law. If these voters tarn out as they should, and can, 
next week, the gallows-tree will bear less fruit. It is easier to keep down insurrection 
than to put it down." — Tribune, November 30, 1861. 

"Fernando Wood, who says he had two grandfathers in the army of Washington at 
Yorktown — said grandfathers having no grandson now in the army — who wrote a mes- 
sage to the Common Council recommending the Secession of New York City from the 
State and the Nation— who telegraphed his tears to the scouadrel Toombs, of Georgia, 
because the Police Commissioners would not send arms thither — who was indicted for 
felony, and escaped going to Sing-Sing by the Statute of Limitations." — Tribune, Octo- 
ber 28, 1863. 

"They lie — conspicuously, wickedly lie — who tell you that to support Seymour, 
Wood & Co. is the true way to invigorate the prosecution of the War, and bring it 
speedily to a triumphmt conclusion. If that were the fact, the Rebel sympathizers and 
semi-secessionists, who abound hereabout, would not themselves support those candi- 
dates. If that were the fact, Ben Wood — who has always openly opposed and sought to 
cripple the War — would not himself support Seymour. If that were the fact, Fernando 
Wood — who, at the outset of the Rebellion, formally proposed in his Annual Message, 
as Mayor, the secession of our City from the State, with obvious intent to connect its 
fortunes with those of the Southern Confederacy — would not be a Seymour orator and 
Seymour candidate." — Tribune, October 30, 1863. 



What H. G. Knew about Hon. Silas Wright, of New York. 

" Silas Wright has committed acts which ought to have consigned him to ignominy, 
but they have not done it, and he will poll the whole strength of his party. No man 
■was more active or influential than he in doggedly withholding, to subserve a party 
purpose, from the People of this State in 18;J4 the right to choose their own Presiden- 
tial Electors. Flis life is full of similar acts, in utter and fligrant violation of all Demo- 
cratic principles, and yet he is lauded as a champion of Democracy! He has always 
held all great questions of public policy' subordinate to Party ascendancy, and has been 
just as Protective or anti-Protective as the interests of his party seemed at the time to 
require. So on other vital questions. His letter to M irtin Van B.irei in 1830, discuss- 
ing 'what man we shall present to the caucus, and through that to the People,' to run 
for Governor aga'-ist DoWitt Clinton, and his recomraendatioti that Nathan Sinford be 
chosen, because (as he allegeLl) Sanford was false, unprincipled, and corrupt, and could 
be used to great advantage in the caucus and afterward, is decidedly the most infamous 
document in the annals of Political corruption. We shall publish it directly, as exhib- 
iting the man. So cool and unblushing an avowal of systematic heartlessness in Poli- 
tics and gambling with a confiding party's votes is a dark phase of Human Nature." — 
Tribune, September 6, 1844. 

32 



WHAT HORACE GREELEY KNOWS 

' ABOUT 

Secession and Secessionists — The Progress of Disunion Sentiment at ike South- 
Encouraging the Secessionists, by Professing Sympathy with Them — In- 
spiring the North with the Belief that the South toas not in 
Earnest — Changing Front after the War had Began, 
&c., &c., &c., &e. 



What U. G. Knew about Secession in 1850. 

"The Nashvillo Convention has not quite effected the dissolution of the Union, but it has 
adiieved something quite as much to the purpose, by dissolvincc itself. It has gone off with a 
very tame explosion, and we presume its ghost will no longer disquiet the slumbers of the most 
nervous old ladies. The whole movement was a farce, and .a very clumsy one. Tiie ofiice- 
set-kers of South Carolina are thoroughly disloyal to the Union, and have infected their brctlircn 
of Mississippi wiih their views. There are a few of the same s )rt in Georgia andAabamx. 
Besides South Carolina, and possibly Mississippi, there is not a State in the South that woul I 
secede from the Union if freely permitted to do so. Kentucky, Tennessee, and Louisiana would 
vote five to one against such a proposition. Virginia and North Carolina nearly the same. If 
the <loor of the Union were held wide open for their egress. South Carolina might coax Missis- 
sippi to step out with her, but never another State — and there would be a desperate and doubtful 
struggle in Mississipjii. Tliere would scarcely bean organized attempt to secede in any States but 
these and Georgia." — Tribune, November 20, 1850. 



What H. G. Knew about the Sentiment of South Carolina in 1830. 

" The Telegraphic report that South Carolina is arming and preparing to give her Uncle Sam- 
uel a severe flogging dues not greatly alarm us. She is rather wolfish at present, but she will 
not hurt any body much, and we trust noboJy will hurt her. Should she proceed to the ex- 
tremity of resisting the collection of the Federal Revenue and expelling the U. .S. officers from 
Charleston, we trust her coast will be effectually blockaded by the Navy, so as to enforce the 
collection of duties on all incoming goods outside of her jurisdiction, and that she will there 
be left to cool. Let no blood be needlessly shed, but let no unworthy concessions be made. 
"What we apprehend is not that South Carolina will practically secede from the Union, but that 
undue truckling to her will be resorted to on the pretext of averting that deplored catastrophe. 
The Tariff Compromise of 1833, and the Ten Millions lo Texas in 1830, are precedents that must 
not be followed in 1851." — Tribune, December 17, 1850. 



What H. G. Knew about Dissolving the Union in 1851. 

"Who then is to dissolve the Union? Is it the people of the Slave States? It is they if any- 
body, for it is not tliej' of the free. And here is the rub. Here begins to loom the lantern 
visage of the (rightful bugaboo, of which we have heard so much. Here peers from the land, 
sphynx-like, the grim, horrid front of dissolution, so alarming in the distance to the timid 
nerves of College ex-Presidents, and servile Professors, mercenary presses and politicians, and 
those clad in the purple and fine linen of trade ami commerce. Yes; all the talk and appre- 
hension, and vague alarm about disunion, when sifted and examined, leaves just this residuum, 
only this and nothing more: that the imminent danger of the dissolution of this Union, and 
the destruction of this Government, arises wholly and solely from the apprehension entertained 
of the action of the Slave States. It is an idea conceived in cowardice and brought forth in 
folly. It is the base product of a craven timidity, an emasculated manliness. It should shame 
the front and bleach the face of anything wearing the shape of man, who professes to apprehend 
disunion, to trr.ce out and see where the idea bottoms. It rests on plain, bald, naked fear and 
covvatdice. It is rooted in the stinking bed of paltroonery. No m tn with a heart beneath his 
ribs, that ever beat to a bold and manly impulse, or vrho possesses a spirit not wholly craven, 
servile, and enslaved, but would slink away in shame from preaching a discourse on the dangers 
of disunion, if confronted with an exposure of the ground upon which all such apprehensions 
rest." — Tribune, May 20, 1851. 

57—1 



53 What Horace Greeley Knoios 

What U. O. Knew about Public Opinion at the South in 1854. 

" We look with pity upon the present condition of the Pouth as illustrated by the windy, 
baseless, blighted harangues of these Southern Conventions. It is much lik3 the gibberings 
of a mad-hotise — where one poor creature funcies himself a King, wondering where are his 
subjects; and another fancies himself a God, wondering where are his worshipers. So ihese 
orators will have it that they are kings and gods; all they want is subjects and worshipers' in 
the wealth, and industry, and enterprise which gives the North industrial and commercial 
3Ui)remacy. /.nd eo we fear they will gibber at this next Convention. And so at the nest and 
the next. It is most melancholy to think that such fully should prevail. However, the delusion 
must in time come to an end. Then possibly the Southern patriots may understand the fact 
that tliose Northern States which have prospered have done so by honest work, enterprise, 
economy, and common schools, and not by Commercial Conventions. And then possibly the 
South may start anew upon the right track. When she does this we shall most cordially wish 
her success." — Tribune, March 4, 1854. 

What U. G. Knew about Secession in 1854. 

"The Tribune has never counseled nor suggested any secession from the Union on the pnrt 
of the Free States. We of the North are unlikely ever to secede from the Union, and the South 
is not a whit more likel^', unless her politicians /ann/ that they can bully the Free S utes by ilir^al- 
tning secession, unless they can be allowed to deprive the Union of every characteristic except 
that of a machine for the propagation and perpetuation of Slavery. Here is the real danger of 
the Union — that the political leaders of the South, supposing that the North will do anything, 
submit to anything, to preserve the Union, will so commit themselves in attempting to drag 
the Federal Covcrnment into the execution of their Fillibustering designs that they will be 
ashamed 7Wt to secede upon discovering that the North refuses for once to be dragooned by them. 
iJut let us have a fair understanding all around that the North regards the Union of no special, 
peculi.ir i.dvantage to her, and can do without it much better than the South can, and wc shall 
have fewer secession capers, and may jog on together quietly and peaceably. Wc would have 
the Norih, whenever the South shall cry out, 'IJold me ! hold me ! for I'm desperate, and shall 
hurt somi'bodvl' cooly answer, 'Hold yourself, if you need holding ; for we have better business on 
hand' — and this would be found after a little to exert a decididly sedative, tranquilizing effect 
on the too-susceptible nerves of our too-excitable Southern brethren. Instead of liolting the 
door in alarm, and calling for hel[) to guard it, in case the South should hereafter threaten to 
walk out of the Union, we would h Id it politely open and suggest to thcdepariing the policy of 
minding his eye and buttoning his coat well under his chin preparatory to facing she rough 
weaiher outside. And this, we insist, is the true mode of reducing his paroxysms and causing 
him to desist from such raw-headed demonstrations in the future. It seems to us idle, childish, 
preposterous, in this age of the world, to talk of any humin arrangement or compact as too 
sacred for discussion. If it be a good, discussion will heicchten the general appreciation of its 
value; if bad, the truth will be made evident, as it should be. To depreciate discussion is to 
imply that there is some truth connected with the subject which it would be dangerous to have 
generally known." — Tribune, May 2, 1854. 



What H. G. Kneiv about Secession in 1S5d. 

"There are signs of a faint beginnincrof anew Disunion panic. The fools are reckoned not to 
be all dead yet, and so we are sure to have it sooner or later. A Virginian member of Con- 
gress, in a speech in the House, on Tuesday, professed to be shocked at the idea advanced there, 
that the North was really in earnest in meaning to exclude Slavery from the Territories. Hor- 
ror-struck at this diabolical idea, he forthwith announced that he and his friends would take 
their hats and go out of the Union if such a thing should be seriously attempted. Here and 
there a faint cry to the same purport has been heard from the newspapers, and finally an an- 
nouncement is already made that the South contemplates holdinG; a Convention and nomi- 
nating a candidate fjr the Presidency and offt-ring him to the next Democratic Baltimore Con- 
vention, on the Slavery Extension platform, with the distinct alternative that if he be not 
accepted, the Union will be at once endangered and probably dissolved. How much truth there 
is in the latter statement we camot pretend to say. No doubt its leading idea is correct. At 
any rate, it is clear that another deliberate effort is about to be made to terrify the North with 
the cry of di-union, under which it is expected to prevent the prohibition of Slavery in the 
Territories, and secure the admission of Kansas as a Slave State. The game is hardlv begun, 
and we shall not, probably, hear much about it till the next sitting of Congress; but then we 
m.ay look out for the barking of Scylla and the roaring of Charybdis. We allude to it now 
merely to expose the tactics of the Nebraska speculators and drivers of slaves." — Tribune, March 
1, 1855. 



What H. G. Knew about Southern Sentiment in 1856. 
"Our Southern cousins are ever boasting of their own valor and contemptuously describing 
the cowardice of other folks. Perhaps they are the bravest people in the world, but their bragt 
4on't prove it. Indeed it has often turned out that braggarts are the greatest cowards. W« 

2 



About Secession and Secessionists. 59 

have no doubt Wiii our kinsmen are fond of sanguinary delights, but they prefer to take them 
in the form of assaults on peaceable, unarmed men, chasing timid, weaponless blacks, and 
slauqhteiing their antagonists generally with the least possible danger to iheir own persons. 
We do not dispute their love of killing when they can do it in comparative safety. This is an 
amiable passion which they share with the people of all warm climates; and the soliciiude for 
their own persons while indulging it is equally a growth of fervid latitudes. But they are by 
no means fond of provoking the bold thumps of equal war. When these are threatened ihey 
become suddenly prudent, conservative and cautious. The prospect of dangerous hostilities 
reducis their swagger at once to its minimum proportions. The idea which drifts occasionally 
on the wind in our reports from Washington, about Southern men there gravely declaring their 
apprehension that a civil war will grow out of the Kansas difficulties, we regard as the merest 
nonsense. The moment that firmness and manly resolution among the Free State men are de- 
terminedly opposed to Southern gasconade, we shall see the end of it. A civil war, forsooth, 
in behalf of Slavery ! The absurdity is immense." — Tribune, January 31, 1856. 

What H. G. Knew about Secession in 1856. 

"Monsieur Tonson come again ! Amid the loud thunder and fierce lightning of 'secession 
and the slave-trade direct with Africa' in the Charleston papers, come the somewhat softer tones 
to eye and car of a 'Southern Commercial Convention.' 'Ah, here we are again ! ' as the circus 
clown says when he rushes into the ring, turns six somersets and makes twelve fiices. Here we 
are again, with the grimace and ground-and-lofty tumbling of a Southern Commercial Conven- 
tion. List, ye elements 1 Take heed, ye Continents ! Record it, history and posterity 1 The 
South will be free of the North ! Away with this accursed dependence on Northern capital, 
Northern enterprise. Northern labor, Northern talent. Northern genius ! . Let independence be 
our boast ! So say the South, and we cry Amen, if tliey can do it — but there's the rub The 
call to the unconverted regarding this new Convention is of course loud. It is of course long. 
Several such documents es the Declaration of Independence could be cut out of it and hardly 
missed, mere length considered. What it wants in substance it basin rebellious expansion. 
Like a comet's tail, it stretches over a firmament of words. But long as it is it has no merit of 
novelty. It is the old story. It is the howl of Jeremiah mixed with the wrath of Achilhs. 
But it is stale to fetidity. We have had it all before — over and over again. We had it for the 
grand Sanhedrim at Memphis, when the heavens and earth were compassed in magniloquent pal- 
metto 'splurges,' and the Right Rev. Bishop Otley discoursed on the Aladdin-like splendor and 
riches of Amazonia. Nest we find the same Convention re-assembling the year following at 
New Orleans, and here even the wondrous party of the Memphis Saymnches and D'olittles was 
exceeded. Mr. Albert Pike, the poet, was there in all his glory. He spread himself like a 
rainbow, and the South glowed ant glistened as the prisms of the empvrean. His m^'jestic 
swoop nest took up objurgations, and, borrowing Sydney Smith's old and celebrated summing 
up of the taxation system of England, our bard Pike told the indeptudenf Southroni; — the 'Ro- 
mans,' the jnen who denounced our mechanics as 'greasy,' filthy,' and 'not fit to sit down in 
company with a Southern gentleman's body-servant' — that the same South, from the crib to the 
coffin, from the wooden platter to the Family Bible, from the footstool to the pianoforte, from 
the wants of plaintive infancy to the props of gibbering age, depended on the North ! On this 
theme Albert howled like Ossian — cynical, saccharine howling — fit to permeate the innermost 
ganglionic tissue of every recreant Southern who 'does' his industry and genius at second-hand — 
. who draws for his sustentation the skilled thought, tlie skilled labor, and skilled brain of the 
North — the despised, vulsrar, rabid, debt-paying infidel, ism-cholced, ism-covered, ism-crowned 
North ! '0 ! ! ! ' "—Tribune, November 5, 1856. 



What IT. G. Knew about Secession iri 1857. 

" We print this morning a letter on ' Disunion ' from our well-known correspondent, J. S. P., 
now at Washington, in which that gentleman alleges his fancied grievances with much more 
perspicacity than he states his opinions. He complains, first, that he is called by The Tribune 
'a Uisunionist,' and in the second place, that he is declared to have lately become such. With 
this personal matter we shall make very short work. The writer is in a very low state of mind, 
and appears to have engrafted upon his political creed a Vitality cjuite Oriental. He has fixed upon a 
pre-determined ord^r of events, and has quietly seated himself to await the terrible consumma- 
tion with the stoicism of a MJllerite at midnight in a cemetery. True, he talks of leading for- 
lorn hopes, and announces that he 'yet carries the flag of resistance!' but then a soldier who 
leads a forlorn hope so feebly, and waves the flag of resistance so tremulously, may fairly be 
considered already enamored of defeat. But it is not merely in his forlorn hopes and flags that 
the writer is inconsistent. He seems to be very much in the dubious position of the cat in the 
ad:ige. 'I desire,' he says, ' no such thing as the dissolution of the Union.' 'Let the North 
and South,' he says, in a moment after, ' part in the manner that becomes the civilization of 
the nineteenth century.' 'Prepare, then,' he says, in another place, in a deliberate and sober 
manner, 'for what apparently awaits us.' We believe the main idea of a Federal Union of 
separate Commonwealths to be politically just. Vve do not believe that the great statesmen 
who framed the Constitution were deluded by a. sounding fallacy, or by a 'glittering gener- 

3 



60 Wliat Horace Greeley Knows 

ality.' We believe, and reason teaches us to believe, that 'in union there is strength.' Now, 
we are not ready to throw away these advantages, nor to di?card their strength. The future 
holds ill it good hope and sorrow. We mean still to be hopeful — still to believf! that the alT-irs 
of earth are ordered by a divine destiny — still to trust something^ to the influence of sound 
opinions, of religion and of philosophy. It is true that events sometimes occur which sonly 
try our trust, but other lands have emerged, in the light of great and beneficent statesmanship, 
from a darkness deeper than that which now surrounds us." — Tribune, 'January 30, 1857. 

What H. G. Knew about South Carolina in 1857. 

" It is usually the case that the most techy and wayward of a family is the weakest and most 
rickety ; and yet it is oftener than not seen that this very ill-favored and badly-orcanized hrat 
governs the whole household, and makes the parental authority the instrument of its whims 
and caprices. We have all heard of the fond mother who could be brought to submit to any- 
thing that her spolt darling demanded by force of its threat, in case of refusal, to bump its 
own head against the floor. It is very much the same in political families. The weakest are 
very often the sauciest, and are the likeliest to have everything their own wav. Now, there is 
the Lilliputian Empire of South Carolina, for instance. How has she been allowed to shake hor 
puny fists in the faces of her elders and her betters, and to extort from them submissions entirely 
out of p'-onortion tc her physical power or just moral influence. And yet this cross-prained 
hussy, holding on nil the time to the skirts of our common Uncle, and venting her insults and 
injuries in the confidence of his protection, threatens him with utter annihilation if she should 
once let go of his coat-tail ! " — Tribune, January 13, ISST. 



What H. G. Knew about Secession in 1858, 

" There is an old and true proverb wh'ch says : ' One man may steal a horse with impunity, 
while another will be hung for only looking over a hedge.' The latest instance of this ij the 
relative treatment of Northern and Southern Disunionists. There are thinly scattered through 
the Free States, rjainly in New England, a few thousand people who proclaim themselves 
hostile 10 the Union because of its pro-slavery aspects and influences. In other words, they 
refuse to be, in any manner, mixed up with, or responsible for, the enslavement of human 
beiugs, and, believing that the Union renders all who freely subscribe to it thus r sponsible, 
they say : 'Away with the Union ! ' Not one of these Disunionists is a Governor, Member of 
Congress, Judje, or even Justice of the Peace. In fact, we do not know that one of them 
hokls any office whatever. They do not rule any State, county, city, town, or village in the 
North ; no journal in general circulation subscribes to their views, and they n.re just about as 
powerful among us as the Shakers or the Mormons. On the other band, the South has a Dis- 
union iiarty embracing thousands of her foremost citizens — Governors, Senators, Representa- 
tives, Judges, (Jenerals, &c., &c. Leading commercial journals in Charleston, New Orleans, 
and other Southern cities openly advocate Disunion fentiments, and the Disunionists enjoy their 
full share, in proportion to their number, of oflice and consideration. It is rarel.y*an" imjicdi- 
mcnt to a politician's advancement in the South that he is an avowed Secessionist; in some 
localities it is a positive recommendation." — Tribune, July 23, 1858. 

What H. G. Knew about Secessionists in 1859. 

"The advocates of Disunion, we mean those who do not cautiously hint, but who do obstrep- 
erously halloo and howl their nonsense, which is not respectable euough to be called frcason- 
ou?, are usually half-witted Members of Congress and quarfer-witted Editors. It is very easy 
for some ncwspajier man, who, when he bought his types, did not buy Murray's grammar, and 
who considers Webster's spelling-book to be a vile incendiary publication, to sfal) the Constitu- 
tion, dissolve the Union, and annihilate New York and Boston, make an occidental London of 
Charleston build up an imperial miracle of a State, which shall cast the ancients into oblivion 
and drive all other moderns to despair. Wrath, whiskey, and tobacco are wonderfully rajjid 
erchitictSj'only their fabrics are baseless, and when they fade away they leave not a wreck, but 
only a headache behind." — Tribune, Ju<y 21, 1859. 

What H. G. Knew about John Cochrane's Encouraging Secession in 1859. 

".\larm and apprehension have recently, and not unnaturally, been current in the Southern 
States as to the security and safety of their slave-holding citizens. Apart from the bogus 
alarm which has been stimulated by designing politicians there has been a genuine, enrnest 
feir th It the slaves would rise against their masters, or a Northern invasion of their States be 
;.ct on foot, or that, at all events, slavery would not be suffered to diffuse itself, whereby the 
South would be obliged to smash the Union. These apprehensions have impelled a personage 
no l''ss eminent and high-priticipled than the Hon. John Cochrane of our State to devote him- 
s'ltto llietasli ofspeakin.? peace to the troubled souls by baring his stalwart arm and raising 
his clarion voice in their behalf. After exposing to the indignation of an astonished world the 
atrocities of Gov. Reward's 'irrepressible conflict,' and proving, after a fashion, that the com- 
pend (not the published) of Helper's 'Impending Crisis' had instigated John Brown's raid at 

4 



About Secession and Secessionists. 61 

Harper's Ferry, that Sherman has no business to be Speaker, and that the Republicans ought to 
be ashamed of themselves, the Hon. John wound up his harangue in the House on Tuesday as 
follows : 

"'Gentlemen at the South may declare themselves ready for secession ; we at the North 
deprecate and reprobate the idea. We declare that whatever may be the feeling of gentlemen 
from the South, there are those in the North who sympathize with them, and who are able and 
prepared to protect and support them. There can be no crisis allowed to ajjproach unprepared, 
now or hereafter impending, to neutralize the strong arm of the Democracy of the Norihern 
States, which will be ever stretched out to shield and to strike in defence of their brother Demo- 
crats, wherever they may be.' 

" The South, thus assured of sympathy, protection, and support from that Northern Democ- 
racy, whereof Jlr. Cochrane is a distinguished representative and ornament, may possibly wish 
to know how much reliance may be placed upon his guaranty." — TTibu7ie, December 22, 1859. 



What H. G. Knew about Secession in 1860. 

"We believe the Union is not dissolved, although a Eepublican Speaker is elected. Beyond 
a dying v ail fiom a single Southern fire-eater we hear no sound to disturb the genera! satisfac- 
tion that the House i^ at length organized. The ftictionists are quiet; the Disunionists asleep. 
Having blown off their gas for two months they have now subsided. A lull succeeds the storm. 
The spectacle affords a lesson. Our real disorders are verbal merely. Fifty noisy fellows got 
together and make a tremendous row over what one or another says, and talk themselves into 
the assertion, and sometimes into the belief, that the Government is on its last legs, and that, 
unless somebody or other does something somewhere, very suddenly, to compose this tempest of 
speech, we may all as well give up the ghost at once, for our doom is sealed, and ruin howls at the 
gates. Mr. Toombs cries out to his confederates down in Georgia to seize hold of ihe pillars of the 
national prosperity and pull them all down about his and everybody's ears. But wouldn't those 
Georgians have a job of it ? Yet Toombs refuses to be pacified, or to stop talking, unless this small 
personal favor be granted him. But the talk finally stops. The talkers get temporarily restored to 
reasn, and the absorbed and breathless actors and listeners turn their heads and behold that 
the world still rolls on its axis, the sun and stars alternate in the sky, the business of mankind 
in general, and of the country in particular, goes on just as usual. Nothing is broken or dam- 
aged, and no new kingdom has come. The tremendous bubble has suddenly burst, the rolling 
mists that darkened the sky have all evaporated, and public affairs again take on the r old 
form and dimensions, like a landscape from which a curtain of fog and mirage has just 
lifted." — Tribune, February 2, 18G0. 



What H. G. Informed the Cotton States in November, 1860. 

"Mr. Sanders informs us that the Fire-eaters will not wait to see whether Mr. Lincoln pur- 
poses to do tliem any wrong or not. And he adds that the Cotton States have already given 
us due and formal notice that they will secede in case of Mr. Linco'n's election. 

'•We beg leave to assure Mr. S. that he is entirely mistaken as to the facts. The Cotton States 
have given no such notice, and they are not going to cut up any such didoes as he presages. 
A few noisy politicians ha"e exhaled a largo amount of unwholesome gas, but the Southern 
People regard their bravado wiih silent contempt. Jeflf. Davis & Co. tried to make Mississippi 
get ready for Secession nearly ten years ago ; and the result was that Jeff, was beaten for Gov- 
ernor of that State by so poor a tool as Henry S. Foote. Iverson & Co. tried the same game in 
Georgia, and were utterly routed under the lead of Howell Cobb. So Sam Hous'on badly 
thrasiied the Fire-eating crew in Texas only last year. And if they put themselves in the way 
of another such exercise, they will get served worse in 1861 than they have ever vet been. 
1 here will be no call for Mr. Lincoln to put down rebellion and nullification in the South-West ; 
the People of the Cotton States will do that whenever the opportunity is offered them. They 
are not going lo have their mails stopped and their coast blockaded to gratify the mad ambition 
of a few self-seeking counterfeiters of Pro-Slavery fanaticism. We dare the Fire-eaters to sub- 
mit the question of Secession or no Secession because of Lincoln's election to the popular vote 
of their own people. They will be badly beaten in every State but South Carolina, and' prob- 
ably beaten in her popular vote also. And.let them be assured of this — that they cannot make 
feints of jumping out of the Union and expect the North to hold them. Whenever ami consid- 
erable seciion of this Union shall really insist on (jetting out of it. WE SHALL INSIST THAT 
THEY BE ALLOWED TO GO, and we feel assured that the North generally cherishes a kin^hed 
determination. So let there be no more babble as to the ability of the Cotton States to whip the North 
If they WILL fight, they must hunt up some other enemy, for wb are not going to fight them. If 
ihfy insist on staying in the Union, they must of^ course obey its laws ; but if the People (noi 
the swashy politicians) of the Cotton States shall ever deliberately vote themselves out of the 
Uui m, we shall be in favor of letting them go in peace. Then who is to fight? and what 
^ovT' — Tiibune, November 2, 1860. 

What U. G. Knew about the folly of Compromise and Concession in 1861. 

"Some weeks ago we warned the Republicans of the Free States that a measure was being 
concocted in Washington that would yield up the vital doctrines for which they struggled in 



G2 What Horace Greeley Knoios 

the recent Presidential contest, and we urged them to let their opinions on that su>ijcct be 
known to their Senators and Representatives without delay. We have reason to know that that 
appeal was not made in vain. We now say to the tried and true friends of our cause throu<i;hout 
t..e country, that the advocates of what is called Concession and Compromise are ajrain at work, 
A\v\ with more vigor than before, to induce the Republicans in Congress to support some policy 
that shall humble the North and make shipwreck of our party and its creed. We renewedly call 
upon them to promptly make their opinions and wishes upon this question known at Washington. 
To this end let them speak through their local Journals, and by letters and other means of com- 
:iumication, so that their Senators and Representatives may have a clear knowledge of the tone 
of i)ublic sentiment at home. Let the friends of Free Labor and Free Government move imme- 
diately ! The crisis impends. There is no time for delay." — Tribune, January 8, 1861. 

What S. G. Kneiv about Encouraghuj Secession in 1861. 
•'Ax to Secession, I have said repeatedly, and here repeat, that, if the People of the Slave 
States, or op the Cotton States alone, really wish to get out of the Union, I A.M IN 
FAVuPi. OF LETTING THE.M OUT, as soon as thai result can be peace/idly and constitulionally 
aUained. But their case cannot be so urgent as to require that the President and his subordi- 
nates should perjure themselves in deference to its requirements. If they will only be patient, 
not rush to seizing Federal forts, arsenals, arms, and sub-treasuries, but take fiist deliberately 
a fair vote by ballot of their own citizens, none being coerced nor intimidated, and that vote 
shall indicate a setded resolve TO get odt of the Union, I'WILL DO ALL I CAN TO HELP TllElI 
OUT at an early day." — Tribune, January 14, 18G1. 

What H. G. Was Willing to do jar Secession in 1861. 
" What I demand is proof that the Southern People really desire separation from the Free States. 
Whenever assured that s'/c'h is their settled wisk, I SHALL JOYFULLY CO-OPERATE WITH 
THEM TO SECURE THE END THEY SEEK, Thus far, I have had evidence of nothing but 
a purpose to bully and coerce the North. Many of the Secessioil emissaries to the Border Slave 
Slates tell the people they address that they do not really mean to dissolve the Union, i-nt only 
to secure what they term their rights — in the Union. Now, as nearly all the people of tl;e 
Slave States cither are, or have to beem to be, in favor of this, the present menacing front of 
Se'.-ession proves nothing to the purpose. Maryland and Virginia have no idea of breaking up 
the Union ; but they would both dearly like to bully the North into a compromise. Their Se- 
cession demonstrations prove just this, and nothing more." — Tribune, January 21, 1861. 

What H. G. Proposed to do to prevent the Extension of Secession. 

" D.-^y by day and hour by hour it grows more and more plain that the establishment of a 
Southern Slaveholding Coiifederacy is inevitable. All influences and all agencies brought to 
be.irby the men who are trying to save the Union by concessions and compromises, combine to 
precipitate this result. The policy of the more moderate compromisers, who go on the maxim 
of throwing a tub to the whale, or tickling him with the straws of soft and ambiguous speech, 
only drives^the more determined rebels forward upon their predetermined line of conduct with 
fresh earnestness. Thfy do not wish to be trifled with. Such courses incite them to resolute 
action far more surely than if they were met by straightforward, honest opposition. The 
Uniied States Government must treat the Secession movement as being just what it is — a revo- 
lution. The first and highest duty of the Government' is to guard the safety and interests, 
present and i)rospective, of the loyal States. It has no call to run after the stray sheep of the 
flock till the main body of the broken herd is secured. The first necessity is firmly and immov- 
ably to limit the Secession movement where it trenches upon the interests of the Free States. 
]t must be checked at the Potomac. It must be arrested at the Mississippi. It must be watched 
%in the Teriitories. The Gulf of Mexico must be held under Federal control." — Tribune, Feb- 
ruary 6, ISUl. V 

What II. G. Knew about the Secession Movement in February, 1861. 
"An earnest Secessionist, whether of the North or of the South, may be very blind, but he 
is noi necessarily a bad man ; and, wrong-headed as we may deem him, we insist on his perfect 
ricrlit to his own opinion, and to pursue a peaceable course of action in open consistency there- 
TvTth. if a citizen ot any State really believes that his section could do better out of the Union 
than in it, he hsis ample warrant for being a Secessionist. True, if he desires peaceable secession, 
he must confine himself to peaceful instrumentalities, and not rob arsenals, capture armories, 
besiese forts, aud confiscate mints and sub-treasiaries, while he shrieks ' no coercion.' He must 
refrain from shooting, if he has any decided objection to being shot, and restrict himself to 
speaking diggers if he prefers that the friends of the Union should not use them. But if he 
will only be patient, and s^k his end by legal, peaceful, constitutional mean^, we shall steadily 
affirm his right to seek it, and to use his voice, his pen, his vote, in furtherance of his object. 
But, for the sham Secessionists, the amateurs in treason, who do not want to dissolve the Union, 
but only to bully the Republicans by pretending to seek its dissolution, we have an utter 
loathing. They are the basest of hypocrites, the meanest of trickster.^. To make shipwreck of 



About Secession and Secessionists.. G3 

our fair fabric of constitutional liberty in furtherance of a partisan intrifrue — to plunge the 
country into chaos and civil war merely to evade the popular verdict embodied in the late 
choice of a President — to scatter fire-brands, arrows, and death with intent merely to para- 
lyze or cripple an incoming Administration, this is to play the traitor on lower grounds and 
with meaner motives than History has yet branded with just condemnation." — Tribune, Febru- 
ary 15, 1861. 

JVhat H. O. Proposed to the Secessionists in March, 1861. 

"If free goods are to be allowed to enter the Slave States to be sent thence to Free States, why 
is it not better at once to give up the contest, divide the Territories, the Army and Navy, and 
make the best terms we can with Jeff. Davis? If the forts are to be surrendered, whether from 
military necessity or otherwise, and everything that Virginia chooses to call coercion is to be 
avoided, why not own at once that the only branch of the Government which the leaders of the 
Republican party can successfuUv conduct is the distribution of offices?" — Tribune, March. IG, 
18(31. 



What H. G. Asserted as his Views on Secession in 1861. 

"With the simple remark that, while no member of a partnership can of his own mere motion 
break up the concern, taking so much of its property as he considers his share, I wocld have 
CHEEBFULLY CO-OPERATED WITH Yoc in dcvtsing and promoting peaceful means of liberatinj (he Cotton 
States from a hated bond, had they not chosen rather to break out, and to take with thorn what- 
ever they could lay their hands on. I remain, yourg, Horace Greelet." Letter to S. 31. Uawh 
ins, (xrenada, Miss. — Tribune, Marr.k 20, ISGL 

What H. G. Knew about the Right of Secession. 
"We have steadfastly affirmed and upheld Mr. Jefferson's doctrine, embodied in the Declara- 
tion of American Independence, of the Right of Revolution. We have insisted that where this 
right is asserted, and its exercise is properly attempted, it ought not to be necessary to subject 
all concerned to the woes and horrors of civil war. In other words, what one party has a right 
to do, another can have no right to resist. And we have urged that, had the great mass of the 
Southern People realli/ desired a dissolution of the Union, and been willing to exercise a reasonable 
patience, their end might have been attained without devastation and carnage ; for WE, tuith thousands 
more in the North, wodld have done all in our power to incline oor fellow citizens to defer 
TO THEIR REQUEST AND LET THEM GO IN PEACE. Hence we have contended that the violent, 
terrorist, outrageous proceedings of the Southern Jacobins — their seizure of the National for;s, 
armories, arsenals, sub-treasuries, &c., culminating in the bombardment of Fort Sumter — were 
not inexcusable in themselves, but signally calculated to defeat the end they professed to have in 
view. Take the case of our own Pacific empire as a further illustration. Nodoubt, thcPeopleof 
California and Oregon are to-day loyal and fervent in their devotion to the Union. Diit they 
are mainly natives of the Atlantic or Gulf States — 'bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh' — 
and their loyalty is a matter of education, of feeling, and of habit. Fifty years hence, when our 
Pacific coaft shall have a population of ten or twelve millions, mainly born oq that slope, it will, 
be very different. Now, should the time arrive in our day when the great body ottbe People of 
our Pacific States shall say deliberately, kindly, firmly, to those this side of ihc Rocky Jloun- 
tains, 'You are stronger than we — older, more wealthy, more powerful — hniiveask you to let 
us go ; for v:e believe we can do better by ourselves than with you'' — WE shall respond, and urge 
others to respond, ' Go in peace, and Heaven's blessing attend you.' We believe that is the right, 
the wise, the Christian answer to such a request, and that the world will yet perceive and recog- 
nize the iruth." — Tribune, May 14, 1862. 

What H. G.'s Sentiraents on Secession were. 
"Mr. Garret Davis, this tremendous Civil War was deprecated and dreaded by no one moTCthan 
myself. lam one of the few Northern men who , to avoid it, vjould have preferred that the Cotton States 
should leave us in peace. But they chose to rend the Union rather than patiently, quietly dis- 
solve it, to steal its sub- treasuries, arsenals, armories, custom-houses, and batter down its fort- 
resses, and so left us no choice but to fight." — Tribune, April 3, 1862. 

Wliat R. G. Knew about Secession offer the Northern Uprising. 

" It is now evident, and all men will do well to shape their calculations accordingly, that the 
ONION CANNOT BE DISSOLVED. Thcro cannot be two rival and competing Governments within t'le 
boundaries of the United States. The territorial integrity and the political unity of the nation, 
are to be preserved at whatever cost. Rebellion is to be put down, not treated with. This is 
the meaning of the Providential, the miraculous outpouring of the People, which we behold with 
awe and admiration all over the land. This is the meaning of every throb in the grrat popular 
heart, now beating with noblest purposes, and animated as it were by a divine inspiration. 
Freemen of the country understand this well. They know the obstacles, they apprecialo the 
diflicullies in their wav. They perceive that the struggle will be an arduous, a costlv, a bloody 

7 



64 WJiat Horace Oreeley Knows. 

one. They see their enemy, and underrate neither his resources nor his desperation, But they 
are determined to fisht no half battle with him. They are determined to make clean work of it, 
now that the is3ue has been forced upon them. They have counted the cost, but they have esti- 
mated, too, the value of the prize. Throug-h the vista of this war, and by means of the national 
rpgeneration which it assures, they behold beyond the certainty of peace, of honor, of freedom, 
secure and immovable forever. These thinjrs they are resolved unon, and woe be to those who 
attempt to check them in their course !" — Tribune, April 25, 1861. 



What H. G. Knew about promptly Siippresdng Secession. 
" But nevertheless we mean to conquer them — not merely to defeat, but to conquer, to sub- 
ju.aate them — and we shall do this the most mercifully the more speedily we do it. But when 
the robellious traitors are overwhelmed in the field and scattered like leaves before an ant;ry 
wind, it mast not be to return to peaceful and contented homes. They must find poverty at 
their firefide.J, and see privation in the anxious eyes of mothers and the rags of children." — 
Tribune, May 1, 1861. 

"There is a sickly concern in our city calling itself The World, which started on professions of 
piety and elevation above the low atmosphere of politics, and one of whose editorial corjis wrote 
to South Carolina last Winter that not one of its editors voted for Lincoln, as we understand was 
the fact. Now, with its columns stufiF'd with Government advcrtisincj, and the fingens of its 
managers understood to be pretty deep in contract-jobbibg, it out-herods everything in its show 
of devotion to and superserviceable zeal for the Administration which it accuses The Tribc.vb of 
opposing. Our readers know that we did not approve the hesitation to reinforce Fort Sumter, 
but did very heartily approve the attempt ultimately made to relieve it, and ihev will find us 
just there now and all the time. Whenever the War for the Union is pressed foward with all 
possible vigor, and with a determined hostility to all compromise, we are with the Administra- 
tion, heart and soul ; if itseem^ to halt, we move straight on. We do not approve a temporizing, 
stand-still policy, and hope to learn by the forthcominGr message — still more, by unmistakable 
acts — that the armies of the Union are henceforth to move forward to victory or defeat, never to 
bo stayed hy politics or compromise. To that policy we shall give the most unequivocal sup- 
port at all timers, and without asking who is gratified or offended by our course. And as to our 
m-;iartv(whero there is n )pap) coateaaponry, which, hiving exh lasted th'^natienceand draiaeJ 
the pockets of its original bickers, will to-day swallow the remain? of The Cmrier and Enqwrcr, 
anl be soon swallowed ii turn by the remorseless grave, we will only say to it as the good wo- 
man said to hermoribund but garrulous husband, 'Don't trouble yourself with talking, my dear, 
but just go on with your dying." — Tribune, July 1, 18G1. 

"We hold traitors responsible for the work upon which thoy have precipitated n«, and we 
warn them that they must abide the full penalty. » * * The rebels of that State (Vir- 
ginia) anl Maryland may not flatter themselves that they can enter upon a war against the 
Government and afterward return to quiet and peaceful homes. They choose to play the part 
of traitors, and they must suffer the penalty. The worn-out race of emasculated first families 
must give place to sturdier people, whose pioneers are now on their wav to Washington, at 
this moment, in regiments. An allotment of land in Virginia would be a fitting reward to the 
brave fellowd who have gone to fight their country's battles." — Tribune, April 23, 1861, 



}Vhat H. G. Finally Knew about the Right of Secession. 

"We utterly deny, repudiate, and condemn the pretended Riofht of Secession. No such right 
is known to our Federal Constitution, nor, in fact, to any civilized framework of government. 
No such right was reserved, or supposed to be reserved, when the States ratified or adopted the 
Federal Constitution. We do not believe that a mere majority of a community m.iy, in disregard 
of all existing forms, upset an existing government and put one of their choiie in i's place. We 
do not believe the whole population — we will say of Nantucket or Staten Island — have a right, 
moved by a prospect of unlimited gains by smuggling to the main land, to break off from the 
Union and annex their island to Great Britain or set up for themselves. We do not believe a 
a nation is, like a mob or mass-meeting, to be dispersed by a thunder-shower or a steam fire- 
engine playing upon it." — Tribune, June 3, 1862. 

8 



WHAT HORACE GREELEY KNOWS 

ABOUT 

War and Peace — Military Counsels and Programmes — Fears of Defeat 

and Hopes of Success — Incompetence of Officers — 

Triumphs of Gen. Grant — 

&c., dc, &c. 



What H. G. Knew about War in 1 844. 

"NotwithstandiDg the occasional scenes of violence and blood that disgrace our pe- 
riod, and the petty attempts of political demagogues to invjlve nations in war without 
the slightest cause save the hope of subserving their own reckless ambition, the evident 
and inevitable tendency of Civilization is to the establishment of universal Peace. Na- 
tional differences are more a,nd more removed from the bloody arbitration of arms and 
submilted to be adjusted by the wiser couacils of Diplomacy. War is beginning to be 
regarded as a monster not lit to exist in a Christian and enliglitened era. Slavery, also, 
and murder by the gallows, and one by one all forms of human wrong and oppression; 
are destined to be extirpated, not by force, not by unwise and untimely agitation, not 
by bravado and insult and outrage — for how can wrong expel wrong? — but by the ir- 
resistible force of great minds and noble souls, who concentrate their energies upon the 
glorious work. The silent, constant influences of these efforts are strong' enough to re- 
move mountains of evil and suffering, and they will do it." — Tribune, July 34, 1844. 



What H. G. Knew about War in 1 846. 

"If some pestilence were now raging on our Southwestern border, mowing down a 
hundred or two human beings per day, and threatening to overspread the land, what a 
profusion of prayers and fasiiugs and deprecations of God's wrathf&l justice would be 
heard from all ourten thousand churches! If news had but arrived that the inhabitants of 
the valley of the Rio Grande, no matter on which bank residing, were pining and dying 
for food, what thrilling appeals would be made to Christian benevolence through all our 
newspapers! What meetmgs would be held to raise supplies of corn and cattle for our 
suffering, dying fellow-men! Yet now,twhen we hear of hundreds after hundreds reck- 
lessly slaughtered there, dying in agony and scorching thirst, their life-blood oozing 
gradually away into the burning sands, and their bodies tumbled hurriedly into holes 
like carrion, mobs assemble to shout and dance over the 'glorious' tidings, and every 
ear is strained for more bulletins of butchery. We hear that the Mexican Army is 
starving, after being subsisted for days on barley, corn, and salt, in a region where fresh 
water is often a rarity, and we think not, or care not, that when an arm?/ begins to starve 
the People must have starved already, and our patriots hurrah: ' That's right! Give it to 
'em! Block up the mouth of the Rio Grande! Let them have nothing to eat! Humble 
them! Chastise them! Cut tliem down!' Such is War; such the devilish spirit which 
creates and is cherished by it." — Tribune, June 1, 1846. 

What H. G. Knew about War in 1858. 

" War is justly regarded by the thoughtful, intelligent, and conscientious as at once 
among the most horrible of calamities and the most heinous of crimes. All the casual- 
ties, afflictions, disasters, of forty years of peace, are dwarfed by the devastations, 
butcheries, and miseries of a single great campaign. If a shell were to burst by acci- 
dent in one of our streets to-day, and kill or mangle a dozen persons, the whole com- 
munity would for days be convulsed with sympathetic emotion; but in war a thousand, 
five thousand, ten thousand shells are often exploded daily, shattering the ankles and 
scattering the brains and limbs of innocent women and children as though they were 
the vilest carrion, and nobody has time or thought for sympathy or sorrow. War trans- 
forms men into demons, eager to smite, to maim, to slay. In war, even invention, 
skill, genius— our noblest attributes — undergo a diabolical transformation, and are de- 
es— i 



66 What Horace Greeley Knows 

voted to the contrivance of engines of torture and destruction— chain-shot, shrapnell- 
shells, rockets, torpedoes, and similar devices for destroyiug the fruits of iudustry and 
defacing the image of God. There never was and never can be a war except tlirough 
a fearful criminality on one side or on the other — often on both. Nor is it so true as is 
generally supposed that the ambition of kings and nobles, of generals and marshals, is 
the usual incitement to national hostilities. Rulers and chieftains have sins enough in 
this respect to answer for; but quite as many wars have been instigated and waged by 
civilians as by soldiers — by demagogue aspiratioo as l)y crowned ambition. Scarcely 
one of the wars in which this country has been engaged, or which it has n;\rrowly 
escaped, was mainly impelled by miliuiry disquietude; while popular passion, seduiuusiy 
excited hy demagogues eager for power or fame, has often impelled the President and 
Cabinet to belligerent attitudes and acts which their own unltiased judgment wduid 
have avoided." — Tribune, June 35, 1858. 



What H. G. Knew about War in 1859. 

"Our regular army, so far as sending infantry against mounted Indians, is a farce. 
Sending regiments to the Pacific is a costly, bare-faced swindle; but sending infantry 
and avtillf ry to scour the Plains is no less so. You raiglit as well send a tortoise after 
a crow. What we need in time of peace is the mere skeleton of an army, composed of 
capable, honest, experienced ofhcers, under department commanders who can be trusted 
not to be fooled by false alarms. Let such commanders liave each a Colonel imd tliree 
or four captains who know their busiuess, with authority to call out one hundred to one 
thousand men whenever they should believe a savagri incursion imminent, and let our 
army, so far as the interior is concerned, be composed of these alone." — Tribune, May 
17, i869. 



What H. G. Knew about War in January, 1861. 

" To be sure, it is a little to be regretted that the liberators of the South shoixld com- 
mence their career by stealing their ammunition, and by what may be called the grand 
larceny of a revenue cutter. But necessity knows no law; and a man who is bent upon 
committing a murder will not be much more severely blamed for furtively paying his 
respects to a hen-roost. In for a penny, as the adage has it, in for a pound. The 
Southern States could not wait to see if peace, under a Reptibiicau President, were pos- 
sible. They have in one State chosen, and in other States are threatening to choose 
anarchy, bloodshed, and famine. Unheeding hint or caution, they seem resolutely 
bent on self-destruction." — Tribune, January 5, 1861. 



What H. G. laid down as a plan of operations in 1 861 . 

" ' TJirough Baltimore to Washington P is the motto of the patriot soldiery now rushing 
to arms in the Free States. In going to the National Capital, in obedience to tbe call 
of their country, they have no intention to turn short angles or follow devious courses, 
either to avoid tlie Plug-Uglies of Baltimore or to please their allies, the late hypocrit- 
ical Unionists of Maryland. They propose to go to Washington ' by the usually trav- 
eled route,' as the law directs. If Baltimore objects, thej'' will insist." K she resists 
unto blood, they will remove her out of the way, and go over the spot where Baltimore 
used to stand." — Tribune, April 26, 1861. 



What H. G. Knew about the Attack on Massachusetts Troops in Baltimore. 

*' Great injustice has been done to the Plug-Uglies and Blood-Tubs of Baltimore in 
supposing that they were the parties that murdered the Massachusetts Volunteers in her 
streets. It was a well-dressed mob, mainly, set on and paid by merchants and lawyers, 
that did the bloody business. Marshal Kane, the head of their Metro[)olitan Police, 
who h!id been employed, and succes^stully, in suppressing the vulgar rioters under the 
old regime, was notoriously the promoter and leader of this riot. Merchants went 
home to dinner, after it was over, as we have formerly stated on the a.uthority of an 
eye-witness, and boasted of the money they had given toward it. Winans, one oi the 
avowed leaders of the Baltimore Secessionists, is perhaps the richest man in the coiin- 
try — certainly the next after Mr. Astor. And we heard lately a well- authenticated 
storj- of a young man of the cream of Baltimore society, regarded there as its flower 
of courtesy and good breeding, who, upon being introduced to a young lady from Bos- 
ton, after talking to her in the most insulting manner, produced a bullet from his 
pocket, telling her that it had been extracted from the dead body of one of tbe Massa- 
chusetts volunteers, and that he was keeping it to tire into one of the next b:itch that 
came along. With such a spirit prevailing among men of this class in life, with arms 



2 



A'Ooiit War and Peace. 67 

and money, and without mercy or scruple, it is idle to infer that secession is dead 
because it may hold its bi'eatli for awhile, and because the United States flag floats 
overttie CustomHouse and Post-Office. There will he, as there have been, ebbiugs and 
flo wings, flux and reflux in the tide of treason." — Tribune, Ma/i/d, 18(31. 

What H. G. Knew in 1859 about the Men who saved the Capital in 1861. 

"If we knew the precise object of this Massachusetts muster, we might be able to 
speak of it with all the enthusiasm which we notice in other quarters. It will, undoubt- 
edly, be a pretty show, but it involves a large expenditure of time and money, aud 
witbdraws from their daily avocations many men who can aflbrd ill enough the loss to 
which it subjects them. It will be asked indignantly, by suuie offended person in 
a cocked hat and buttons, ,' What! cannot these men afford to give two or three days to 
their country?' To vi^hich the answer : ' Certainly! three, thirty, three hundred da3;s t^; 
their country, when their country needs tUem! Life to their country, if it is called for J 
Fortune to their country, if it is called for!' But all this has nothing to do with a great 
training in Concord; nothing to do with patriotically getting cold by sleeping ou damp 
straw in a tent; notuing to do with a drill which rank and tile understand as well as the 
officers, and frequently better; nothing to do with a display which attracts all the ras- 
cality of the State to a focus. The militia of Massachusetts give the best part of a week 
to the work of learning 'how battles are won.' Who will instruct them? The Com- 
niaiider-in-chief? The commanding officers, from the General to the Corporal? Alas! 
who will instruct the instructors? What idea will any soldier obtain of a real campaiga 
during his three days' campaigning? Any more than if he had staid at home and read 
Scott's Infantry Tactics three days and nights in succession? Any more than he would 
get by marching and countermarching through the streets of his village? No. He 
will waste a week. He will get cold. And he will return as ignorant of the art of war 
as a Seminole savage — perhaps more so." — Trihuiie, Septeinher 10, 1859. 

What H. G.'s Programme for carrying on the War was in May, 1861. 

" We will not undertake to say what the Government should do in this conjuncture 
of aftairs; but we can say what tne North is I'eady to sustain it in doing. First, the mili- 
tary occupation of Maryland, so far as prudence renders it necessary. Secondly, an 
advance upon Richmond, and the armed holding of that city. Thirdly, the military 
occupation of Norfolk, Charleston, Savannah, Mobile, and New Orleans. Fourthly, 
the proclamation of martial law in all the rebellious States. Fifthly, the offering of 
large rewards for the arrest of Jefferson Davis and his chief conspirators. Sixth I j% 
their trial and execution under martial law, that being the only way by which justice 
can reach them. To carry out a bold policy like this. President Lincoln has only to ask 
for men and money to have both, and to spare. The man who knows wisely how to 
take at the flood this tide in our affoirs, now sweeping on toward its hight, will identify 
his name forever with the glory of the country he will help to achieve; while, if he miss 
it, and suffer the safety and character of the country to be stranded by its ebb, he will 
be swept away into the depths of oblivion, if not of infamy. But the country will &\it- 
vive.''— Tribune, May 2, 1861. 

What H. G. Knew about Federal officers who joined the Rebellion. 

'* Maj. Mordecai knows thoroughly that the Government will harm no person who 
does not engage in the atrocious conspiracy to overthrow it. The Government is fight- 
ing for its life against a rebellion which avows its purpose to dismember and destroy 
the Republic. The attitude of the Government is purely defensive, and it has forborne 
to resist armed, rampant, aggressive rebellion until half its fortresses and arsenals have 
been seized, its treasure stolen, its revenues diverted, its arms captured, and its soldiers 
bombarded and roasted with red-hot balls in their casemates. All this evokes no word 
of sympathy from Maj. Mordecai; but, the moment the Government prepares to strike 
back, he fears his mother will get hurt, and resigas! It is hardly probable that the 
Government will think it important to apply discipline to this retiring though not mod- 
est soldier. But his life must be very private indeed not to subject him to elevation on 
a social pillory as high as the gallows which Haman erected for his namesake of old, 
that Mordecai who was respectable and declined not to 'co-operate in hostilities' 
against the enemies of his country." — Tribune, May 11, 1861. 



. What H. G. Thought should be done at Alexandria by way of Retribution. 

" The funeral of Ellsworth is over. The dead soldier, assassinated in the performance 
of a high and sacred duty, has been committed to the grave with all ceremonial honors 
and the deepest heartfelt regret. The spirit of the murdered Zouave will still march ai 



68 What Horace Greeley Knows 

the head of his advancing column — an Avenger! But this is not all. The practice of 
war calls for and justifies summary retrihutiuu on the city of the assassin. He, indeed, 
•was instantly put tu death; but that falls far short of the justice required by such a 
crime. If assassination is not to 'je intiugurated as a feature of this war of barbarism 
against civilization, law. and liberty, its first manifestation must be summarily put down. 
Tbe murderer was promptly dispatched, and an adequate penalty should now fall upon 
the city where such a crime could be committed. A heavy pecuniary mulct — two or three 
hundred thousand dollars — should be imposed upon it, and failing thereof, the portion of 
the city where the crime occurred sbould be leveled with the ground. It is said in some 
of I he journals that a coroner's inquest over the body of the murderer rendered a ver- 
dict that he died at the hands of United States soldiers ' while defending his own prop- 
erty in his own house ' — a victim of lawless violence, therefore, and not a rebel assassin! 
If this does not prove complicity with the crime on the part of the citizens, such as 
would amply justiiy the sort of retribution here called for, we are at a loss to know 
what would. Let '^he barbarians be taught that we are in earnest; that since they have 
evoked war they shall have war — rigorous, unrelenting, but honorable war, that shuns 
alike the secret poison and the assassin's arm, and will punish unsparingly the use of 
fMhev:'— Tribune, May 28, 1861. 

What H. G. Thought should be done to Enforce Martial Law. 

" Let us not be afraid of a military despotism. Of all the tyrannies that afflict man- 
kind that of the Judiciary is the most insidious, the most intolerable, the most danger- 
ous. The times are perilous. Treason is at)road. Rebels are in arms against the State. 
A powerful force, commanded by learned and patriotic men, versed in both civil and 
martial law, is in the field to subdue them. We advise the three Judges of the Su- 
preme Court who have not turned traitors to the Government, and the one or two whose 
position is not yet clearly defined, to attend to their appropriate duties in the Courts and 
leave tla; task of overthrowing this formidable conspiracy against Liberty and Law to 
the military and naval forces of the United States. 

"We beg also to remind Mr. Chief Justice Taney that the only man who heartily de- 
fended him against the many severe attacks made upon him in the Senate Chamber, be- 
cause of his decision in the Dred Scott case, was Judah P. Benjamin, of Louisiana, now 
Attorney-General of the so-called Confederate States. He is a traitor, deserving the 
BcafTold for his crime. We trust that gratitude to his Senatorial champion will not lead 
the venerable jurist to exhiliit too much sympathy with his fellow-citizens of Maryland, 
who are plotting to betray that State into the hands of the Confederate rebels below the 
Potomac."— T^/'i^Mwe, MmjZ^, 1861. 

What H. G. did to Urge a Vigorous Advance upon Richmond. 

"The indications from the seat of war portend an advance upon Richmond at an 
early day. Virginia, by her treacherous course, is plucking down retribution upon her 
venerable head. This haughty Commonwealth is proud of her Capital city. It is to 
her what Paris is to France, and the Holy City of Benares to the Hindoos. ' The inva- 
sion of the ' sacred soil ' of the Ancient Dominion by legions of the Union, who have 
even dared to thrust plebeian picks and spades into the bosom of ' the mother of Presi- 
dents,' has thrilled her with rage and grief. To add to this desecration, by pitching 
the tents of the ' barbarians ' in her streets, and converting her Capitol into barracks, 
and may be stalling the horses of their cavalry in its halls, as Cromwell stabled his 
Puritan troopers in the ChapterHouse of York Minster, quartering the Fire Zouaves, 
or the Garibaldi Guards, or even Billy Wilson's merry men, in the dainty mansions of 
the F. P. V.'s, would whelm her in mortification and shame, surpassing that which the 
palmers of old felt because Jerusalem was occupied by the Turks and Saracens. Next 
to Charleston, there is no city in the Rebel States whose occupancy by the Union forces 
would strike more dread to the hearts of the traitors, and so encourage^ the loyal 
citizens of the South, and so elate the masses of the loyal States, as that of Rich- 
mond. For years it has been a den of conspirators, plotting the destruction of the Re- 
public. Affecting to act with more calmness and candor, with more deliberation and 
judgment, with more dignity and discretion, than its impulsive, fiery Palmetto sister, 
It has really been more guilty and far more despicable than she, because, while commit- 
ting the same offences against the public weal, it has assumed an air of virtue and inno- 
cence, attempting to cloak insidious treason under the guise of patriotic devotion to the 
doctrines of the fathers of the Republic. In a word, and not to put too fine a point 
upon it, Richmond has bpen striving to do the dirtiest and most degrading work of the 
conspiracy in a dignified and courtly manner. She has been the Robert Macaire of 
the plot, putting on mock airs and a shabby-genteel costume, and aftVcting to despise 
the Jacques Strops of the Gulf States, while in fact being the real leader of "the coutpir- 

4 



About War and Peace. 69 

ators. Mr. Jefferson Davis has summoned his Congress of Confederate Rebels to meet 
in Richmond ou some day iu July. Eretbat.tiaie, we trust its Cipifol will be the head- 
quarters of the Commander-in-Chief of the Federal forces." — Tr:bune^ June 1, 18(31. 

"The great peril of the Republic now imminent is not so much a feeble, aimless, 
ineffective prosecution of the war for the Uuion, as a premature and shameful peace, 
which shall render all the perils and sacrifices already incurred of no avail. We are 
assured that already secret agents of the traitors are in Washington and this city, try- 
ing to ensnare leading Democrats into backstairs arrangements for putting an eod to 
the struggle by some muddle that can be called a compromise. They profess to desire 
a formal separation and a recognitioQ of the independence of the rebel confederacy; 
but as they know this will not be entertained, they hint that perhaps a reconstruction 
which involved a full guarantee of the 'rights of the South' might not prove inadmis- 
sible. In some quarters it is vaguely gi^en out that the Crittenden proposition, guar- 
antying the existence of Slavery in all present and future territory South of 3G deg. 30 
min. would not be rejected without careful consideration. And from another quar- 
ter we hear that President Davis would be very happy to accommodate President Lin- 
coln with an armistice of sixty or ninety days to afford time for negotiations. These 
variotfs feelers all imply the same great truth. The finances of the ' Confederate 
States 'are ia,^a condition of hopeless collapse. The new aod desperate expedient of 
making their Treasury Notes a legal tender, and exchanging them for the notes of all 
their banks, is simply a contrivance for absorbing the specie of the New Orleans 
banks, and whatever other movaWe property may remain in the South, into the gulf of 
universal bankruptcy. The ' Confederate ' armies are cowed, if not disorganized. They 
dare not stop on the soil of the loyal States. They dare not attack Cairo nor Pickens, 
nor our lines in front of Alexandria and Arlington. They dare not meet the Unionists 
in fair and open battle. These rebel soldiers get no pay, and their ranks require con- 
stant reenforcement by drafts and conscriptions. Washington having become sour 
grapes to their leaders, who are at their wits' end for provisions, arms, and munitions, 
they would like to improve their solemn circumstances in any possible manner — lighting 
being the recourse that they have the least stomach for. Yet they may be driven evt-n 
to that. From the moment of the assemblage of Congress, the Bea Woods and Vallau- 
dighams of the House will busy themselves with concocting aad promoting schemes 
of asserted compromise, with a view to paralyzing the energies of the loyal States 
and strengthening the hands of the rebels. If they succeed, rebellion will have been 
consecrated as a successful mode of recovering whatever was lost by a political defeat, 
ftnd the Spanish American Republics will have become the patterns and precursors of our 
own future career. Need we add that that career must tend rapidly downward?" — Tri- 
bune, June 14, 1861. 

"Whoever asserts that Tlie Tribune does not earnestly desire an early conclusion, 
at the least possible cost of blood, of this most mad, ruinous civil war, defies the confu- 
tation of most notorious facts; whoever insinuates it aggravates cowardice by falsehood. 
For this journal, almost alone in the Free States, dared avow and defend its preference 
even of Disunion to a bloody and desolating civil war. Had the Southern conspirators 
really had the Slave States at their back, and been willing to divide the Union peaceably, 
and go their own way, we stood ready to advocate acquiescence in their quiet depar- 
ture, rather than see the laird deluged in blood. We presume they, too, would have 
preferred this, had it been practicable; but it was not. The Northern and Western 
masses of all parties were for the Union anyhow, and at whatever cost, and a majority 
of the people of the Slave States concurred with them i.i ;)piuion and sentiment, though 
perhaps not in the intensity of their devotion to the One Republic. Hence, Civil W^'ar 
became a dire necessity to the conspirators; they could not get the Border States out of 
the Union without provoking and commencing a fight. Though they had reduced po- 
litical lying to a system, and prostituted the Stump, the Press, the Telegraph to gigantic, 
persistent falsehood, as they were never perverted before,"yet the'result of the extraor- 
dinary elections held in all the Border States last winter proved that these States could 
not be juggled out of the Union as Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi had, with 
difl3culty, been. It. was absolutely necessary to their great purpose that the original 
and inveterate traitors should force a war upon the Federal Government, in order to be 
able to raise the war-cry of 'The North against the South!' and so drown the remain- 
ing sense and reason of the Southern people in the mad whirlwind of sectional hostility 
and passion. Hence, the villainous perfidy whereby the Star of the West was captured 
at Indianola, and the Federal Soldiers made prisoners in defiance of even Twiggs' 
capitulation; hence the bombardment and capture of Sumter. Having resolved" on 
founding a new Slave Empire on the ruins of the American Union, the consspirators 
foiind it necessary to initiate a Civil War to that end. They waited long to have the 
Government begin it; that hope failing, they began it themselves. Now that their do- 



TO What Horace Greeley Knows 

feat and ruiu are palpable and evidently at hand, certain hybrid politicians, who can 
just dodge an indictment for treason, are in our city on behali' of the desj^airing traitors, 
trying to inveijjle our Democratic wirc-worliers into a backbtairs intrigue toforce the 
Government to a hasty and shameful Peace." — Tribune, Jane 17, 18(31. 



What H. G. Knew should be done with Confederate Cruisers. 

"The little pilot-boat broughi in here on Saturday, and which, in an evil hour, sailed 
from Charleston under a letter of marque from Jeff. Davis, is No. 1 in more than a single 
sense. She sailed under the first letter of marque the insurgent chief issued, and she is 
the first vessel that our cruisers have taken sailing under that piratical flag, under whose 
pretended authority American citizens, if taken alive, are pronounced worth $25 a head, 
or if dead, only $20. These robbers upon the high seas, as if pursued by an inevitable 
fate that was to insure their punishment, kept on board the evidence of their having 
seized one vessel already, and sent her to their fellow-robbers on shore, and, as if this 
were not enough, gave chase, with a purpose of like seizure, to the vessel that presently 
showed her teeth and snapped up the little marauder, instead of, as would have been 
the better way, and perhaps justifiable on the score of self-defence, putting a few shot 
through the petty pirate and sending her to the bottom. But how she, or rather her 
crew, are to be dealt with remains to be seen. There would seem to be but one way, 
unless Executive clemency steps ia for relief. The blood of more than one noble young 
man already cries from the ground, shed in riot, assassination, and in action, and we 
think the President will pause long before he proposes to interfere with the course of 
the law in such a case from a mistaken clemency. In ordinary times, if a Charleston 
pilot-boat had been taken in the act of robbery on the high seas, had gone out from any 
port. Northern or Southern, with a thirty-two pounder on a swivel amidships, her cabin 
garnished with cutlasses and pistols, would there have been any thought of mistaken 
mercy ? There is no more pernicious crime known to the law than piracy, for on the 
high seas the victim is supposed to be peculiarly helpless and beyond the reach of aid. 
If anything can add to the atrocity of the crime, it is this pretended authority given to 
it by the cliief abettors of an insurrection which has so far marked its course with 
bloody cruelty and crimes unknown to civilized warfare. Let the law, therefore, take 
its course, and this arm of the rebellion will be palsied at once when the robbers under- 
stand that speedy and inexorable justice will overtake them." — Tribune, June 18, 1861. 



What H. G. said in i86i about the War'*s being a Crusade on Slavery. 

"We have insisted that the War for the Union should not be perverted from its one 
avowed, legitimate, essential purpose into a cruside against Slavery. If it should he, 
the zeal of many would be cooled', vvhile thousands who are to-day for the Union would 
be driven over to the side of its adversaries. Good faith toward allies and compatriots 
is a primary dictate of honorable warfare, and whoever strikes for the Union may rest 
assured that the contest which has been forced upon the loyalty and ptitriotism of the 
country i)y armed treason shall be prosecuted to the end with honesty of purpose and 
singleness of aim. And while such is the case, it is but naked justice to insist that, as 
the war is not to be turned from its declared purpose to overthrow Slavery, so the arm 
of the Nation shall not be shortened in order to shield and screen Slavery. The great 
duty of maintaining and viijOirating the Federal authori'y against the machinations 
and the arms of treason mua; k^u be feebly, heartiessl}' performed because Slavery 
might sufter by a vigorous and fearics- iidelity. If Slavery should ever plant hersidf in 
the path on which the nation is advaucii)gag:Mnst its traitorous enemies and say, 'Your 
life or mine !' the prompt response of the Nation must be, 'Yours, then; not mine !' 
And meantime the Nation must confront and pursue its foes without asking or con- 
sidering whether Slavery is or is noli likely to commit suicide by arraying itself in deadly 
strife against the Union."— J'/iiwne, June 18, 1861. 



What H. G.'s Paper displayed as its motto jfuly 1st, zd, ^a, and \th, i86i. 

"The Nation's War-Cuy! Forward to Richmond!, Foricard to Richmond! The 
Rebel Congress must )iot be allowed to meet there on the 20lh of Juli/ ! By that date the 

PLACE MUST BE HELD BY THE NATIONAL AKMY. " — TribUlie, July 1-4, 1801. »■ 



What H. G. afterwards knew about the Tribune's War-Cry. 

"I wish to be distinctly understood as not seeking to be relieved from any responsi- 
bility for urging the advance of the Union Grand Army into Virginia, though the watch- 
word 'Forward to Richmond' was not mine, and I would have preferred not to iterate 
it. I thought that Army, One Hundred Ihousand strong, might have been in the Rebel 



About War and Peace. Yl 

capital on or before the 20tli instant, while I felt suie that there were urgent reasons 
why it sliould be there, if possible. And now, if mxy one imagines that I, or any one con- 
nected with Tlie Tribune, ever commended or imagined any such strategy as the launch- 
ing barely Thirty of the One Hundred Thousand Union Volunteers within fifty miles of 
Washington against Ninety Thousand Rebels, enveloped in a labyrinth of strong in- 
treuchments and unreconnoitered masked batteries, then demonstration would be lost on 
bis ear. But I will not dwell on this. If I am needed as' a scape-goat for all the Mili- 
tary blunders of the last month, so be it! Individuals must die that the Nation may 
live. If I can serve her best in that capacity, I do not shrink from the ordeal." — Tri- 
bune, February 2, 18G3. 

What H. G. Knew about the Disaster at Bull Run. 

" 1 did urge that the great Union Army, rotting in idleness and debauchery about 
Washington, should advance upon the Rebellion it was called out to put down. It 
ought to have done so a month earlier than it did — not a part of it, but the whole, and 
it might have been triumphantly in Richmond and the Rebellion half suppressed before 
the day of Bull Run. How needless, how wanton, was that disaster — how disgraceful 
to those who might and should have prevented it. History will establish."— Triitt^ie, 
February 2, 1863. 



What H. G. Announced as his Programme for Action. 

" 'Do you pretend to know more about military matters than Gen. Scott?' ask a few 
knaves, whom a great many simpletons know no better than to ^cho. 

"'No, sirs! we know very little of the art of war, and Gen. Scott knows a great 
deal. There is no question on this point, and never has been.' 

The real question— which the above is asked only to shuffle out of sight — is this : 
Does Oen. Scott (or whoever it may be) contemplate the same ends, and is he animated by 
like impulses and purposes, icith the great body of the loyal, liberty-loving People of this 
country? Does he stand up square on the line of 54 deg. 40 rain., or is he squinting to- 
ward 3G deg. 30 min. ? Does he want the rebels routed, or would he prefer to have them 
conciliated? When you answer these questions, you touch the marrow of the problem, 
which all the gas about Gen. Scott's military knowledge and our want of it is intended 
to dodge. Our columns will prove how long we waited and trusted, and exhorted others 
to trust that all was going right. We now hope, and urge others to hope, that all soon 
will be going right. But, if July shall be spent as June has been, we shall have to con- 
fess sadly that those hopes were not well grounded. 

"Let no one attempt to fool himself with this bubble of military knowledge being 
the peculiar possession of a caste. There is knowledge that belongs especially to men 
trained to the profession of arms, but that is not in question. It needs no familiarity 
with Vaubau, Tureune, or Jomini, to enable one to determine that a huge mass of in- 
fantry, without cavalry or field artillery, though it may be well calculated for holding 
the line of the Potomac and shielding Washington city from capture by assault, is not 
such an army as is required for a vigorous offensive in a hostile region, swarming with 
the enemy's light horse, and full of masked batteries, ambuscades, and strong positions 
entrenched and defended by heavy guns in position. Common sense and a very super- 
ficial acquaintance with military history are sufficient. Gentlemen who hold the Peo- 
ple's proxies for the directi>_n of this business, this is just the one result that your mas- 
ters and backers will not abide. If the National forces shall be beaten in fair, stand-up 
fight, (which we do not believe possible,) the patriot millions will acknowledge the corn 
and the independence of Secession. If our side beats, the Rebel leaders must abscond, 
and the country be tranquilized on the good old basis of the supremacy of the Consti- 
tution and laws. But to have Jeff Davis and Toombs, Cobb, Floyd, and Wigfall return 
to Washington as conquerors by diplomacy, and crack their slave-whips over the heads 
of loyal, freedomdoving statesmen, is not to be tolerated nor thought of. And we may 
just as well determine who is who in three months as'in thirty." — Tribune, July 1, 1861. 



What H. G. Knew about Offensive Warfare by Land and by Water. 

" There is no good reason why we should not have a militia of the sea as well as of 
the land. As we maintain no standing army equal to the exigency of war, but are 
obliged to fall back, when the occasion arises, upon the militia and volunteer force of 
the country, so we do not keep afloat a Navy large er.ough to answer the purpose of 
offence and defence in a like emergency, and may propf^rly and wisely resort to similar 
aid. The reasonableness of the proposition is apparent upon its mere statement, and 
needs no argument. That the blockade should be rijiidly enforced is questioned by 
nobody save those who question the propriety of prosecuting the war with vigor in any 

7 



*i[2 What Horace Greeley Knows 

direction. If the South is completely cut off from all foreiga iatercourse, her suhrais- 
sion is only a question of time; if in the meuuwliile she is severely punished by a vig- 
orous campaign in the interior, the insurrection will he suppressed in a way tbat will 
render it impossible for treason ever to raise its head again within this Union. It ia 
said that a forward movement is delayed in Virginia for want of wagons; it cannot be 
said that the blockade is delayed for want of sliips, for tliey are ready made to the 
hands of the Administration. If it desires it, it can have before the 1st of A.ugast a 
fleet at sea that will draw an iaipenetrable line from the Potomac to the mouth of the 
Rio Grande." — Tribune, July 3, 1861. 

What H. G. Knew about the Deficient Support given Gen. Butler. 

"It is reported from Fortress Monroe that the Secretary of War has promised Gen. 
Butler that he shall at once be provided with whatever is necessary to reader the army 
under his command competent for duty in the liekl. We rejoice to hear this. The 
visit of the Secretary and the.-consequent promise have not been made a moment too 
soon. Hitherto, Gen. Butler has been kept in systematic deficiency of many things 
that are absolutely indispensable to his rendering any valuable service; indeed, if it 
were intended to cripple him and deprive him of any possibility of doing what the 
country expects him to do, the course which has hitherto been pursued toward him 
would suffice with scarcely a variation. Of course the column which moves from the 
Fortress will have other wants, which will be attended to; but we believe we have indi- 
cated those which are most important. We have done this not at all for the informa- 
tion of the Secretary of War, but to justify Gen. Butler with the public. It is true 
that he has not yet accomplished what was hoped of him, and that complaints of im- 
perfect organization and many abuses at the Fortress have become current; but the 
people should understand that this able officer has been placed in a position of com- 
parative helplessness. We have not the slightest doubt that ju-jt as soon as he is even 
half furnished with the requisite means he will amply and brilliantly answer the antici- 
pations of the people." — Tribune, July 7, 1861. 

What H. G. thought about the operations of the United States Government. 

"We do not, therefore, regret the attack upon Fort Sumter, but, on the contrary 
rejoice in it, for to that stupendous outrage upon the people and terrible insult to tha 
flag came a response which revealed how true and how strong the North is. We da 
not, therefore, regret that the purpose of the Government to abandon Fort Sumfer as a 
military necessity was rendered impossible by the disobedience of the orders of the cap- 
tain of a Federal ship, and that by such disobedience they were compelled at I ast to 
make an attempt to send succor enough to that brave little garrison to save them from 
starvation. We never believed in the ' military necessity' doctrine in regard to Fort 
Sumter, for it seemed to us the best way was a manly and straightforward way— to de- 
fend the flag and the property of the United States; and the result proved, by the defeat 
of the plans of the Government, that they were wrong in proposing to do anything else. 
However, though we see how events are overruled, and treason defeats' weakness to the 
glory and the progress of the great cause of freedom and popular government, we 
nevertheless have no love for treason. We owe, under God, to the insolent disobedience 
of orders on the part of Capt. Adams, of the Sabine, in refusing to reinforce Fort 
Pickens, the surrender, on the part of the Government, of its intention of abandoning 
Fort Sumter, and its determination to attempt to throw in supplies instead. But why 
Capt. Adams has been left in command of that ship for nearly four months after such 
a defiance of his Government is one of those things (we wish to heaven they were 
fewer, and that we might not be compelled to discuss them) which we shall not attempt 
to explain, because we are at a loss to understand it. If what the Government intended 
to do in regard to Sumter was of any sort of consequence, why has not the man who 
defeated its plans so utterly and so unmercifully been punished? We don't know; we 
don't evea yjrofess to have a theory upon the subject; possibly the Administration also 
believes in Providence, and is careless as to what it does from an abiding faitli that God 
will not permit it, whatever it does, to do wrong. Bnt this we do know— the Sabine 
arrived at Portsmouth on the 4th, with Capt. Adams still in command of her. As it is 
held to be out of order to criticise anything the Government does, and to have any 
opinions of our own, ought we not immediately to take steps to give that worthy gen- 
tleman a public dinnei?" — Tribuiic, July 9, 1861. 



What H. G. Knew about the Graduates of the Military Academy. 

"There is no reason to doubt that West Point has long been a nursery for breeding 
traitors at public expense. The Rebel Chief, Jeft' Davis, is a West Point graduate; so are 



8 



About War and Peace. 73 

Beauregard, Huger, Hardee, Lee, Johnson, Cooper, Magruder, and every other oJBcer of 
rank in the rebel force. These men have all been free pupils of the United States, clothed 
and fed at Government expense. The clothes they had on their backs when they de- 
serted ihe service of their country and tLirued traitors were bought and paid for by the 
United States. But West Point has only been one stage — the infant school for educating 
traitors. The War Department has been the graduating institution, and it has been the 
pleasing task of the Secretary of War to issue the diplomas of merit. The promotion 
of Emory is one of the most recent exhibitions of the official standard of merit in the 
War Department. What is the use of the Secretary asking the reason of the extraordi- 
nary treachery displayed in the army, or undertaking to trace its ' promoting cause'?' 
Such promotions as Emory's are promoting cause enough; the sin belongs not only to 
West Point, but is at the Secretary's door, or at the door of whoever is responsible for 
such abuse of power and such an outrage upon national feeling and official decency. 
Mr. Cameron's homily upon the treachery of ihe army looks very much like Saian re- 
proving sin, in view of the action of his Department in promoting Emory, who is now 
under Mr. Cameron's own order in Western Pennsylvania to raise cavalry recruits for 
.the army. Does not sending such a man on that ei-rand look very much like a deliber- 
ate insult to the patriotic impulses that have gathered hosts around the banner of the 
Union? Was ever the national sentiment of any people subjected to such shame and. 
insult at home or abroad as is perpetrated by the State Department in respect to Harvey 
and by the War Department in respect to Emory ? Can West Point be otherwise than 
a preparatory school for treason while the War Department holds such a position?" — 
Tribune, July 13, 1861. 

PFbat H. G. Knew about the Northern and Southern Armies. 

" The New York Times, the other day, contained an explanation of Gen. Scott's 
plans, directed against ignorant critics, aud signed by An Officer of the Army, which 
we believe was written in the General's SiafT, the main point of which is, according to 
his authority, that if the Rebels are forced from Manassas Junction, they, covering their 
retreat with batteries and cavalry, will make another stand, fight again, and again 
retreat, only to turn once more upon us, and so forth. This all is clap-trap. The 
TDfficer of the Army gives to the Rebels credit for a military heroism of which not even 
the celebrated Guards of Napoleon or Wellington could have been capable, in thus 
retreating for days from position to position, and continually turning to show fight. 
We are sure if they do not disband after being forced from Manassas Junction, they 
will do it after a second discomfiture. Any one even in the slightest degree familiar with 
battles and history knows this well. Their cavalry will not be of much avail, and if 
our army has not sufficient cavalry to press on and break down a retreating enemy the 
fault is with those who for months aud months refused to accept new regiments of 
horses, which to-day would be a perfect match for these Virginians, so terrible to the 
Officer of the Army. The rebels have even less flying artillery than we have, while we could 
have had to-day much more, if the same authorities which refused cavalry had not 
declined artillery when it was offered. The batteries of the Rebels not being movable, 
they could not cover their retreat with them, and establish them in new positions. 
So much for the great tactics of An Officer of the Army." — Tribune, July 18, 1801. 



What H. G. did to Hasten Aggressive Operations. 

" This Tribune, at all events, is quite aware of the fact that ' there are Two Hundred 
and Fifty Thousand (or more) Americans in arms to defend their country against Trea- 
son,' and is naturally anxious to see them set about it. This War is costing the Govern- 
ment from Twenty to Forty Million of Dollars per month, and the Country, in the dis- 
ruption and stagnation of its industry, a great deal more. We are naturally anxious, 
being ourselves heavy sufferers along with our neighbors, to see this deplorable state of 
things brought to an end at the earliest possible moment. We believe our soldiers 
are rather weakened than strengthened by inaction; that disease preys heavily upon 
them; that dissipation and riot creep in among them; and that the majority of our 
regiments (unless reinforced) are quite as effective the week after they leave home as 
three months after. We believe these two Hundred and Fifty Thousand Men will 
smash the face of the Rebellion in short order, if only let loose upon it, with good Gen- 
erals at their head. We believe the misery endured every week throughout the laud, 
because of idleness and want, outweighs the suffering that would result from two or 
three smart battles. In short, we believe the Patriot Soldiers are to-day able and eager 
to wliif) the Rebels, and we want to see them allowed to try. If they are 7wt able to 
thrash the traitors in fair, stand-up fight, our pride revolts at the idea of slowly starving 
them into subjection or whipping them by virtue of money borrowed in Europe. We 
say, challenge them to meet the Patriot Volunteers in fair fight; if tliey quail, they are 

9 



74 What Horace Greeley Knows 

ruitifcd; if tliey fight and are beaten, they must giv;e it up; while, if they beat vsi^ ice 
ou'i'ht to do the same. Let us have this matter decided lorlhwith, so that our brave 
meu may quit soldiering, and return to moie profitable vocations. It does seem to us 
tliatlo let vlie rebels remain in force for mouths within a da>''s march of Washington 
is I he next thing to acliuowledging their independence, and that we should either chase 
then a.vay or own that we are unable. Such are the notions of tJus Trobuae; the otiier 
wii! speak for itself. They may be very erroneous, but they are based on a hatred of 
compromise and all twaddling expedients."— 2r^■6M«^, July 1(3, 18G1 



What H. G. Knew about the Contending Armies. 

" The Stock Market w-ent crazy yesterday under the impetus communicated by the 
advance of the Union armies from all sides towards the focus of rebellion in Virginia. 
It s( ems to be the universal and joyful conviction that this is ' the beginning of the 
end.' 

" We have never disparaged the valor nor the efficiency of those whose hearts are in the 
rebellion. We have presumed that thej^ will tight, and fight well. But we do not believe, 
the thousands forced into the rebel armies by conscription or terror of mob violence will 
choose 10 sacrifice their lives for a cause they abhor; and herein we think the Union 
forces have a decided advantage. They are volunteers; thej'^ are fighting in their own 
cause; they chose to fight for it; and we feel sure they will do so with a resolution which 
the conscripts ia the rebel armies will not, and should not, parallel. Hence we have 
been most anxious that this struggle should be submitted at the earliest moment to the 
oriieal of a fair, decisive battle. And our greatest solicitude springs from the fear that 
the Unionists shall be entrapped into ambuscades or hurled against impassible intrench- 
ments. Give them a fair field, equal weapons and cumbers, and we ask no more. If 
the Rebels shirk a battle in the open field, skulking behind embankments crowned with 
batteries, the war cannot b&a long one. Their resources are very limited; their coun- 
try lies '^oen and penetrable; and their hopes of foreign aid will be blasted from the 
moment they avoid a battle. They have swaggered so loudly of their ability and eager- 
ness to whip the Unionists two, three, four, or five to one, that the moment they refuse 
a battle the whole wtn'ld will jeer them. They will be the butt of every joker, good,^ 
bad, and indifferent, from the moment they fly the open field. We do not say Wieyw'U 
do this; a few days— possibly hoars — will show." — Tribune, July 19, 1861. 



What H. G. Knew about the Successful Movement " On to Richmond." 

"A great battle was fought yesterday at Bull's. Run in front of Beauregard's strongly 
fortified position at Manassas Junction. The forces engaged were the most numerous 
ever opposed in deadly affray on the continent of America. Gen. McDowell had assem- 
bled all his Brigadiers and Colonels at his headquarters at Centreville at 9 P. M. the eve- 
ning before, arul given them their orders. The troops who had been bivouacked in the 
fields and roads, covering an area of many square miles, commenced to move to the posi- 
tions assigned them at 2i< A. M. The generul movement was to the front and right 
flank to take up the position assigned them. Fire was opened by the National artillery 
at 6 A. M., and promptly replied to by the enemy, who had of course chosen their 
ground so as to give themselves all the cover and our troops all the exposure possible. 
The infantry weVe not brought into close action until hours of heavy cannonading, and 
it is morally certain that the enemy have been leenforced by the arrival of Johnston's 
army from Winchester, while our opposing army, through Gen. Patterson's unfathom- 
able strategy, remains several days' march distant. The Rebels had therefore everj' ad- 
vantage—position, numbers, and perfect knowledge of the ground over vs'hich the Union- 
ists acsvaneed to engoge them, ^et all did not avail against the enthusiasm and well-di- 
rected valor of the National forces. The Rebel Batteries were ultimately silenced, and 
their ranks forced back inch by inch, until they were driven from Bull's Run, leaving 
their dead on the field and the National troops undisputed victors." — Tribune, July 22, 
1861. 



What H. G. Ascertained was the Result of his On to Richmond. 

" We have fought and been beaten, God forgive our rulers that this is so; but it is 
true, and cannot be disguised. The Cabinet, recently expressing, in rhetoric better 
adapted to a love-letter, a fear of being drowned in its own honey, is now nearly 
drowned in gore; while our honor on the high seas has only been fav(*d by one daring 
and desperare negro, and he belonging to the merchant marine. The 'sacred soil ' of 
Virginia is crimson and wet with the blood of thousands of Northern men. needlessly 
she 1. 'the great and universal question pervading the public mind is: ' Shall this con- 
dition of things continue?' 

ic 



About War and Peace. Y5 

"A. decimated and indigaani; people will demaud the immediate retirement of the 
prest'iit Cabinet from the hia;li places of power, which, for one reason or aaother, they 
haveshovvn themselves incompetent tofiii. Give us for the President capable advisers, 
who co.iioreheQd the reqairemeiits of the crisis, and are equal to them; and, for the 
Army, leaders worthy of the. rauk and file, and our banner, now drooping, will soon 
float oac3 more in triamph over the whole land. With the right men to lead, our peo- 
ple will show themselves unconquerable." — Tribune, July 23, 18G1. 



What H. G. Said in Justification of his Military Advice. 

" The N. Y. Ti.,a3s continues, in its successive issues, to demand the dismissal of 
certain members of President Lincoln's Cabinet, who are charged with having urged 
the recent advance, and with general opposition to the views of Greneral Scott. 

" We have confessed our own terrible mistake iu the premises, and are trying to amend 
it. General Scott has been equally ingenuous and candid. ' It was a miscalculatictn 
of forces,' he says of the recent disaster. That is the real truth. None of us had any 
idea of the immense numbers and tremendous enginery of War tiiat the Rebels had 
silently collected arouad their position at Manassas Junction. Whoever ordered or 
planned the attack on that position was utterly unaware of their strength." — Tribune, 
July 37, 1861. 

What H. G. Knew about Gen. McClellan as a Commander. 

''The chief cause of this changed atmosphere is the confidence now felt at Washing- 
ton — a confidence produced by the rapidly arriving troops, the zeal of the Government 
iu uli ics Departments, and especially by the advent of the young General who is called 
to the command of the Army of the Potomac, and by the admirable system of disci- 
pline he has put in force. ' 

" But tlie personal qualities of Gen. McClellan — and the characteristics of his mind, 
perhaps do more to inspire confidence in him as a leader than any positive reforms he 
proposes to eiiect. He looks at his army as an army of men, and of men who have 
brains, and hearts, and organs of digestion. He has an idea that upon the bodily com- 
fort and mental cheerfulness of the individuals depends the trustworthiness of the con- 
solidated forces. Acknowledging the truth of the saying that what one does for him- 
self is well done, he attends personally to such of the details of his camps as he can 
reach, and examines single examples of the mass he is not able to cover. He comes 
soon to know the faces of many of his soldiers, and to be personally known by all of 
them. As an efiect of this they regard him with an enthusiasm which will send them 
with shouts into the most desperate fight, inspiring a desire to win his commenda- 
tion." — Tribune, August 1, 1861. 

What H. G. Knew about the Enforcement of Martial Law. 

" Martial Law is likely to be frequently enforced upon municipalities during the 
period in which our armies are engaged in crushing rebellion. It has, to some extent, 
been dominant at Baltimore for mouths past. It has been recently proclaimed at St. 
Louis, and at Washington, a murderer has been tried and executed under its operation, 
the execution following the crime within ten days. One of its peculiar characteristics 
is the swiftness with vvhich it converts chaos into order. Punishment, also, succeeds 
conviction with a remorseless celerity that startles a community accustomed to the tor- 
tuous and tardy movements of the civil law. Even in a modified form, Martial Law 
struck instant terror to the heart of rebellious Baltunoro, broke up its treasonable organi- 
zations, and drove off hundreds of its traitors. At St. Louis the same instantaneous pacifi- 
cation followed its enforcement. An impending insurrection was crushed without 
bloodshed, anarchy vvas prevented, peace maintained, and the highly excited populace 
were assured of safety and protection for the loyal, while the simple proclamation 
struck treason powerless." — Tribune, August 2Q, 1861. 



What H. G. Knew about Slavery, as the Real Cause of the War. 

"Battles are earnest matters. Men are kdled, a great many of them, in battles; and 
human life, at least while human life, is worth something. War is expensive, and 
dollars are dollars, and will probablj^ continue to be dollars for some time to come. 
There is no cause under Heaven of this quarrel but Human Slavery. It doesn't matter 
into what forms of words you put it, or whether you display or disguise it, but every 
child knows that this insurrection is in the interest of Slavery, and of a very mean kind 
of Slavery— at that. If we fight well we weaken Slavery; if we gain a batlle Slavery 
receives a blow; if we conquer we conquer Slavery; our opponents are Slaveholders, 

11 



76 What Horace Greeley Knows 

and they are in the field avowedly as Slaveholders to redress wrongs said to be endured 
by thein as Siaveholders; wljile the main pi!ri)()rt of all iheir mauifestues to the world 
is just this — that Slavery is In danger and ihat Slavery niuist be preserved. What 
fools, idiots, dolts, knaves, or good-natured as.^es are we that we do not accept the issue 
which is tendered to us, when j^uch acceptance would make us strong not merely in the 
righteousness of our cause, l)ut in material and vital assistance and alliances ! Can't 
we ali'ord to be strong? Ai'iwe afraid of success? Do we shrink from victory." — 
Tribune, January 8, 1863. 

What H. G. Knew about the War Policy of Lincoln'' s Administration. 

*' The devotion, the efforts, the sacrifices of the People, call for a corresponding dis- 
play of energy and vigor on the part of the Government. Hitherto, to the best of our 
recollection, the enthusiasm of the musses has been aroused or stimulated by no ani- 
mating appeal, by no electric word, on the part of their rulers. To a dispassionate ob- 
server it might seem that the People had pushed forward the Government at every 
stage of the great struggle in which they are embarked together. In no document or 
manifesto emanating from the Head of the Nation has the causelessness, the perfidy, 
the baseness, of this infernal rebellion been set forth in terms glowing with a just and 
fiery indignation. In no such document has the great truth that this war is waged by 
an aristocratic conspiracy to upturn the foundations of democratic liberty been lucidly 
and^ effectively set forth. Even the Emperor of Russia's kind and admirable letter of. 
sympathy and solicitude, so.plainly inviting a response in which the case of the Nation 
against the Rebels should be authoritatively stated, if not argued, at the bar of Christen- 
dom, was answered with cold politeness and deferential evasion. Our representatives 
in Europe are formally instructed not to exposethe baselessness of the pretexts on which 
this rebellion is justified — not even to state, what everybody knows, that this is an up- 
rising of Slavery against Freedom. We think this policy is not wise nor well, and we 
beg our rulers to con&i''er the grounds on which they have hitherto adhered to it." — 
Tribune, January 10, 1862. 



What H. G. Knew in 1862 about a Vigorous Prosecution of the War. 

"If we are ever to put down the rebellion we shall do it within a very few months. 
We have mcn-e men and more means wherewith to attack and overcome therebel armies 
than we shall have a year hence, should the war continue so long. If we beat them, we 
shall have guns enough; if they beat us, the same. One way or another, we shall have 
peace before the close of 1862; and if we cannot whip them with the arras we now ha^'e, 
we never shall. And since we need every dollar we have or can raise for present press- 
ing uses, we protest against spending one dollar for arms that are not to be in the hands 
of our soldiers before the 1st of May. If we should want more arms after the rebellion 
is put down, let them be provided for; for the present, let us use every dollar where it will 
tell in the present conflict." — Tribune, Januury 81, 1862. 



What H. G, Knew about the Degradation of a Resort to Paper Money. 

" We shiver on the brink of a bottomless abyss of Shiuplaster circulation. Congress 
must provide funds for the vigorous and immediate prosecution of the War for the 
Union, and it seems to have been settled that it shall take the short, and easy method of 
making Treasury Notes a legal tender. We utterly dissent from this conclusion, and 
yet there has been so much delay and hesitation and vacillation that it is possible that 
no other means of giving immediate relief to the Treasury now remains. It might have 
been otherwise. The arrest, conviction, and condign punishment of a few official 
swindlers in December, combined with a passage of a searching Retrenchment bill, and 
such vigor in the prosecution of the war as was practicable prior to the general (linso- 
lution of the Southern roads by the January rains and thaws, might have been iivvle 
the basis of an appeal to the People for a Patriotic Loan of Two or Three Hundred Mil- 
lions, which would have saved us from the slough in which we now flounder. But pre- 
cious time was idled or trifled away, and we are doinsi in February, with diminislu^d 
resources and damaged credit, the wo k which should have been done tvvo montlis earlier. 
Hence the necessity for the degrading resort to Shin plasters." — Tribune, February 10, 
1862. 



What H. G. Knew was the Condition of Affairs at the South in February, 1862. 

" The pressure of wantand miser}'' throughout the Confederacy is fearful. The rich 
are quite generally reduced to the bare necessaries of life, while the poor are cviry- 
where in rags and most of them sulferiug for food. Corn and fresh pork have long 

12 



About War and Peace, 77 

been their chief resources; the {)ork begins to fail, while the scarcity of salt has pre' 
vented much preparation of cured meats for.fhe warmer season, already opening on 
the Gulf. The eniisimcnts of their best, rcgiiients are beginning to expire; witiiiu a 
few weeks fifty thousand of tlteir veterans will set their faces homeward, and no hun- 
dred tlions:;nd raw levies can make good tiicir places. As to the conscription now pro- 
ceerliiig in some States and threatened in others, we do not believe the men it will send 
into the tield will be worth the inevirable cost of arming and supporting them. In the 
defence of a strong position the militia of the vicinage'may be of some value; but in 
answering the varied requirements of a campaign they will go but a little way. The 
coDSeriptiou proves the desperation of the reljel cause, but will not obviate it. The 
ma^-ses thus impressed to fight in the quarrel of a tiaitorous oligarchy will be slow to 
shed their tdood for a cause whose triumph is their own permanent disfranchisement 
and degradation." — Iribvne, February 11, 1863. 



What H. G. Knew in February, 1862, about Securing Peace within Sixty Days. 

" When the National ciuse was disgraced as well as discomfited by that unequaled 
combination of imbecility, incapacity, and treason which enabled all the Rebel armies 
in Eistern Virginia to fight and beat half of one of our's at Bull Run, the most un- 
bounded successes were placed within the reach of the traitors. They might have 
taken Washington any liine vv^ithia the next forty-eight hours with five regiments, when 
Baltimore would have fallen almost without a blow. The next Sunday should have 
seen them on the Susquehanna, with nearly all the State of Maryland, including the 
immense resources and mechanical capacities of B iltimore, in their undisputed posses- 
sion. Let, then. Congress cease ordering gun-boats to be built, when timber commands 
exorbitant prices, for use five or six moaths hence; let it cease to talk of borrowing Five 
Hundred Millions wherewith to c irry on the war after next Jul^r, and devote all its en- 
ergies to providing the means of paying forthwith the money now due our brave de- 
fenders and those who h ive fed them, and we may have the Union thoroughly restored 
and peace proclaimed within sixty days. Let the morrow take care of itself, while due 
provision is made for the needs and the work of to-day." — Tribune, February 21, 1863. 



What H. G. Knew about Another Movement " On to Richmond." 

" The Country aud its brave defenders will hear with joy that an advance of the 
Grand Army of the Potomac is morally certain to be made forthwith. The considera- 
tions which impel this movement are so obvious and pressing that our Military leaders 
could not have disregirded them but in deference to obstacles more uuyieldin'!: than 
mud, aud more terrible than the remains of Virginia Johnston's wasted anfl disheart- 
ened forces at Centerville and Manassas. The vigorous reconnoissance of Satunicay is 
the prelude to stirring events We shall be sorely disappointed if there is a Rebel ilag 
flying north of Richmond at the end of March. 

" Let not, then, our Western heroes nourish and dilate on the fond illusion that their 
sect,iou possesses a moaopoly of Military genius and prowess — that the Union is to be 
saveA by Western valor aloa3. If a fault at all, it surely his not been the fauU, of our 
Eastern soldiers that the Rjbels have been allowed to hold two-thirds of Virgin! i in 
quiet throughout the last three months, and unmolested to drawoflf their forces to other 
sections until it is quite probable that, when we c?«> advance on their late strongholds, 
we shall find them as empty and harmless as Bowling Green. The Army of the Pi)to- 
mac was stronger, more eager, more effective, on the 1st of December, when the weather 
and roa Is were perfect, than it is to-day; and there has not been a day since then when 
it would not have hailed with wild enthusiasm an order to advance. That order they 
are about to receive, and their response to it will be worthy the grandsons of the gray- 
coated farmers who stood to their arms at Banker Hill and conquered at Bennington 
and Saratoga." — Tribune, February 2i, 18S3. 



What H. G. Knew about the Enlistment of Negroes on either side. 

"If JefT. Davis and Beauregard could raise a fiundred thousand negro volunteers, 
they would jump at the chance, and their white followers would never dream of mur- 
muring. That they do not largely increase their Black regiments is owing to the fact 
that they know the instincts, the hopes, and the antipathies of the negro race all incline 
them to the Union side, and they dare not trust them with arms. They could raise a 
hundred thousand negro troops forthwith by offering freedom to all who would enlist; 
but, hard as it would be to arm, it would be harder sti'l to disarm them, and thev know 
that a law, resistless as gravitation, is gradually identifying the Union cause with that 
of Universal Liberty. Hate emancipation as we may, to this complexion we must come 

1.3 



^8 H^hat Horace Greeley Knows 

at last, if we are ever to crush out the Slaveholders' Rebellion. And whenever Negro 
regiments shall be invited to fight for .the Union on the basis of Liberty for all, they 
■wUl be forthcoming to any extent that may be desired." — Irihune, April 21, 1863. 



What H. G. Knew about what Gen. Pope was about to do. 

*' ' "Will there be a battle soon near the centre of Virginia?' We answer, Yes, prob- 
ably, if the Rebels can manage, as heretofore, to attack Gen. Pope's army, or part of 
it, in overwhelming force. They fight to win, and with loss Chivalry than any civilizpd 
belligerent for the last half century. They are great on surprises, ambuscades, masked 
batteries, and everjf variety of two upon one. If they have ever yet voluntarily given 
or offered battle upon fair, open ground, when the hostile forces were nearlj' equal, we 
do not know where or when. But let them have a chance for a snap judgment — for an 
attack in crushing force — and they are brave as lions and savage as bloodhounds. It 
looks as though they would find Gen. Pope an ugly customer, but time will tell. He 
seems to understand the value of moments, and to know how to plant his blows and 
get away without exposing himself to punishment. Still, Stonewall Jackson is a wily 
and active antagonist, and will not soon relinquish the hope of catching him at a dis- 
advantage. If he does, he will doubtless make the most of his opportunity. But we 
do not believe the Rebel chiefs will choose to spare any large proportion of their army 
of Virginia for operations very far from Richmond while the Army of the Potomac, 
flanked by gunboats, lies within a day's march or so from Richmond. The very still- 
ness of that army will excite their apprehensions. We heartily wish, indeed, that our 
two armies in Virginia were combined on the high road from Fredericksburg to Rich- 
mond. That detour to the Peninsula seems to us the great mistake of the campaign. 
Yet Pope's movements seem so well planned and rapidly executed, that we do not be- 
lieve the Rebels can hurl an overwhelming force upon him without giving Gen. Mc- 
Clellan a fair chance to take Richmond." — Tribune, July 23, 1863. 

What H. G. Knew about the Women of the South. 

"Whatever difference of opinion may exist on other subjects, we never heard a de- 
mur from any quarter to the assumption that the Women of the South have been far 
more early, earnest, and unanimous in their championship of the Rebellion than their 
husbands, brothers, and sons. They were, prior to Jeff. Davis's sweeping conscription, 
the chit«f recruiting sergeants for his armies. Nobody who aspired to their favor, or 
lived within the sphere of their daily influence, could keep out of the Rebel army with- 
out feeling himself an object of their fiercest sr^orn and derisirm. They have stimulated 
treason to the utmost; they have reviled and scoffed at our Unionists whom the fortunes 
of war had made prisoners; and when the defeat and flight of the Rebel forces had 
placed them under the undisputed authority of our flag, they have hissed and insulted 
our triumphant columns with a cowardfy malice which was never surpassed. In doing 
this, they have paid the strongest possible tribute to the morality, self-control, and for- 
bearance of our armies. Were the Union soldiers as dissolute and reckless as soldiers 
are apt to be, no woman not utterly abandoned and shameless would dare thus to pro- 
voke them by useless and impotent abuse." — Tribune, July 31, 1863. 



What H. G. Knew about the Cavalry of the Union Army. 

" The Union cavalry, with exceptions by no means numerous, are little better than 
a disgrace to our armies. Made up, apparently, of recruits who saw in this particular 
service theprospeetof lazy immunity from the fatigues of campaign life, it has neither the 
spirit nor endurance which are especially demanded to give it the first elements of utility. 
Moreover, so far as our observation has extended, our cavalry soldiers average a lower 
grade of intellect and manhood than our infantry, when in fact they should rate higher. 
As a rule, it is undoubtedly fair to say that out of every regiment, not a squadron can 
be found that can either ride now, or care ever to learn. Their condition in the saddle 
is perfectly helpless. Their weapons, instead of being a protection, are only a burden to 
them. Hence the numerous, shameful stories of arms cast away by our cavalry prepar- 
atory to a fight, the disgrace of which it thus doubled. We should not like to say 
to what extent we believe t!iis incapacity is shared by officers n.s well as privates. With 
so much ignorance of the use of horses, nothing comes more naturally than their abuse. 
Half the animals sent to supply the wants of a fresh cavalry regiment might as well 
be turned into the slaughter-house directly as dispatched to their destruction by the 
devious though not less certaiu route of torment and neglect. It is next to impossible 
to pass through any one of our volunteer cavalry corps without being shocked at some 
exhibition of ^cruelty to. the animals. We have seen a half drunken private cut down 
from the horse he was running to death by the sword of a general officer. The two 

14 



About War and, Peace. 79 

brutes fell together, but only the human one recovered. His immediate superior officer 
being called to account, oflered in extenuation that the man was only doing it all for 
fun ! Such fun as this wastes more treasure than the supplies of au entire regiment cost, 
and such fun will not be brought to an end until a new system of discipline and organ- 
ization is introduced into our cavalry service." — Tribune, September 16, 1863. 



IVhat H. G. Knew about Kirby Smith's Raid into Kentucky. 

" Such was the well-earned fame of Kentuckians — Col. Nimrod Wildfire, then repre- 
sentative before the footlights, being represented as so 'spiling for a fight,' having 
been inhumanly deprived of that luxury for the interminable space of ten days, that 
he would have to ' liiver himself in a salt-barrel to keep ' — that we have been wonder- 
ing how many invading Rebels would be required to show a front in that State for the 
space of ten days, and have concluded that nothing less than one hundred thousaad 
would answer. 

"When John Morgan made his horse- stealing raid across the State last Summer, 
meeting very little resistance, we explained the matter by considering that he traveled 
so fast — always taking fresh horses to replace those that from time to time grew weary — 
that the hunters aforesaid could not overtake him. But this new parade of Kirby Smith 
throughout the famous 'Blue Grass' region does not abide that solution. Here are 
some twenty to thirtj'^ thousand Rebels vvho have advanced through the very heart of 
the State, from Tennessee to the hanks of the Ohio, routing the only Union force gath- 
ered to defend the'Capital, (which contained, we believe, just one Kentucky regiment,) 
and pusbing on to threaten both Cincinnati and L )ui3ville without serious opposition. 
Perhaps the interruption of the mails and telegraph has left us in the dark as to what 
is going on in that quarter. The facts will doubtless soon shine forth in all their glory; 
and we shall be very glad to hear of the prompt and enthusiastic rally of the aforesaid 
Hunters to drive Rebellion and Disunion into the sea." — Tribune, -September 30, 18G3. 



What H. G. Knew about Peace Movements in September, 1862. 

" We have a very strong conviction that the Confederate leaders will not allow the 
1st of January to approach without very earnest efforts, though they may be underhand, 
to stop the desolating civil war which they so recklessly inaugurated under the gravest 
misconceptions of the military resources and tenacity of purpose of the loyal States. 
Hangman Foote's recent proposition in the Rebel Congress of an Embassy to Washing- 
ton will probably be overruled, but the eftbrt which it contemplates will nevertheless be 
made. The resources of the Rebels, consisting mainly of boundless issues of paper 
promises, backed by no system of taxation, are not easily exhausted; but they have no 
clothing for a winter campaign, having exhausted that which they bought on credit of 
our Northern merchants in 1860, and swindled them out of the pay for, and their British 
friends have learned, by sad experience, that smuggling valuable cargoes into blockaded 
ports at a heavy risk, only to sell them to people who can't pay for them, is extra haz- 
ardous. In short, the Rebellion don't pay, and it will have to be given up. Whenever 
the Rebels really desire peace — as we think they very soon will, if they do not already — they 
have but to notify the Covernment that they are ready to return to loyalty, and to that 
end have abrogated all ordinances, acts, and oaths of allegiance inconsistent therewith. 
President Lincoln would thereupon feel warranted, we doubt not, in issuing a Procla- 
mation of Amnesty, inviting the States lately in rebellion to elect Members of Congress 
as if no rebellion had existe'd. The Rebels would need no further assurance of immu- 
nity; their friends of the Vallandigham persuasion would guarantee them a practical 
ascendancy in the House, if not in the Senate also, and thus shield them from all serious 
harm. And, if they should choose to have a Convention to revise the Federal Constitu- 
tion, we have no doubt that this would be easy of attainment, though we should prefer 
to have no stipulation on th5 subject. They might have had one without objection in 
1861 ; they can have one without stipulation in 1863. But the true and sufficient basis 
of immediate peace is ' The Constitution as it is.' Man can devise no better." — Tribune, 
September 36, 1863. 

What H. C. Knew about the 'Peoples' Loss of Confidence in the Lincoln Administration. 

" Tliere is a partial truth in the allegation that the Administration has lost ground 
•with the People— that is, it is not today so strong in the public confidence as it might 
and should have been. A majority of the people of the loyal States still sustain it; but 
it might have had the hearty support of nearly all that are worth having by a ditFerent 
course. What is needed to animate the loyal States as with one fervid soul, and rally them 
around the Administration in one compact, enthusiastic mass, is a conviction tliat the 
War is henceforth to be prosecuted with a vigor and energy hitherto unknown. Let 

15 



80 WJiat Horace Greeley Knoios 

them feel that their Government is terribly in earnest; that it is intent on crushing out 
the Reb( llion forthwith, and t!ipy will rally to its support as tliey never have done since 
the few memorable days that f )llowed the bombardment of Fort Sumter. But ' con- 
fidence is a plant of slow gro vth,' and once definitely lost, is not easily regained. 
Hours in a great crisis are years, and there is a danger that the President may lose more 
than he can ever regain." — Tribune, October 23, 18G3. 



What H. G. Knew about a Peace Movement in December, 1862. 

" One of two things is certain; Barney and Greene either were the authorized bear- 
ers of overtures of Peace from the Rebels, or they were not. If they were, aad those 
propositions were ever laid before the Government, thoy must have been so preposter- 
ous, or came in so questiouahlea shape that they were rejected, or refused to be listened 
to by the Government without a moment's hesitation. A word from the State Depart- 
ment at Washington could very eabily settle that question. But if, on the other hand, 
there were really no such overtures, but Barney and Greene, deceived by casual and un- 
meaning talk of leading Rebels, and intoxicated with the hope of becoming great paci- 
ficators, or meaning merely to manufacture some little notoriety for themselves, built 
up on the slenderest foundations this scheme of peace, what then becomes of Mr. Fer- 
nando Wood's assertions? Have he and his confederates really received some other in- 
timations than those brought by Barney and Greene that the Rebels are desirous that 
the war shall come to au end on any terms? Or have they— Wood in the East, The 
OMcago Times in the West — availed themselves of the untrustworthy statement of two 
crack-brained enthusiasts, to sow the seeds of distrust in the Government in the popu- 
lar mind, to throw new obstacles in the way of the Administration, to obstruct military 
operations, to give time to the Rebels, and to pave the way to delaj^ in the consumma- 
tion on the 1st of January of the Proclamation of Freedom to the Slaves.? If this be 
all — if the Woods, Seymour, Vallaudigham, Cox, and their fellow-plotters have resorted 
to such base as well as puerile measures to deceive the country, it is well the country 
should know it. It is a proof of how weak they are, as well as how unscrupulous." — 
Tribune, December 11, 180^. 

What H. G. Knew about Peace Negotiations in the Winter of '62-6^. 

"Etrly last Winter we were approached by parties favorable to Peace, and entreated 
to contribute to its attainment. Having always b;'en most anxious for the earliest pos- 
sible Peace consistent with lidelity to those hopes for Humanity which are bound up in 
the life of the American Republic, we listened to the appeal and resolved to do our ut- 
most toward the achievement of a tolerable Peace. Ti that end we labored faithfully 
so long as any hope of attaming it remained, willing to brave the auger and alienation 
of valued friends if we might, at whatever personal cost, contribute to an early conclu- 
sion of this desolating war. No word of conciliation or arbitration could be evoked 
from (hat side. They wanted Peace, of course; but Peace by surrender on our side, by 
Disunion, by the giving up to them not only of all they have, but of all they want, includ- 
ing a great ileal that they have not, and some that they never had. In other words, hav- 
ing appealed from the ballot-box and the rostrum to the bayonet and the sword, they 
proposed to end the struggle as they had begun it, bidding the hardest fend off and the 
weaker go to the wall. And we, alter weeks of earnest pursuit of some endurable Peace 
proposition from the Rebels, were obliged to give it up without having come in sight of 
any Rebel proposition at all." — Tribune, May 11, 1863. 



What H. G. Knew about Securing Peace in January, 1863. 

New York, Jan. 2, 1863. 
W. C. Jewett, Esq., Washington, D. G. — Dear Sir: In whatever you may do to re- 
store peace to our distracted country, bear these things in mind: 1. Whatever action is 
taken must be between the Government of the United States and the accredited author- 
ities of the Confederates. There must be no negotiations or conditions between un- 
official persons. All you can do is to render authorized negotiations possible by open- 
ing a way for them. 2. In such negotiations, our Government cannot act without a 
trusted, though informal assurance that the Confederates have taken the initiative. The 
rupture originated with them; they must evince a preliminary willingness to make 
peace; and, on being assured that this is reciprocated, they must initiate the formal 
proposition. 3. If arbitration shall be resorted to, these conditions must be respected: 
First. The arbiter must be a Power which has evinced no partiality or unfriendliness to 
either party. Second. One that has no interest in the partition or downfall of our 
country. Third. One that does not desire the failure of the republican principle in 
government. Great Britain and France are necessarily excluded by their having virtu- 

16 



About War and Peace. 81 

ally confessed their wishes that we should be divided; and Louis Napoleon has an 
especial interest in proving republics impracticable. For if the republican is a legiti- 
mate, beneficent form of government, what must be the verdict of history on the de- 
stroyer of the French Republic? You will find, I think, no hearty supporter of the 
Union who will agree that our Government shall act in the premises, except on a frank, 
open proposition from the Confederates, proposing arbitration by a friendly Power or 
Powers. I can consider no man a friend of the Union who makes a parade of Peace 
propositions or Peace agitation prior to such action. Yours, (signed) Horace Gree- 
ley.— T^niw He, May 11, 1863. 

Wbat H. G. knew about Democratic aid to the Rebellion iu 1863, 
"Now, Mr. Doolittle, I am one of that small, perhaps, but increasing class of Re- 
publicans who have grown weary of this. We have had about enough of fighting- the 
Southern Rebels in our front and the Northern Democrats in our rear. Our property, 
our lives are at the disposal of the Government, and will be cheerfully rendered up for 
the maintenance of the Union; but we do not believe the war can be long protracted 
unless the Democratic party can be compelled to abandon its complicity with red- 
handed treason. While it shall continue to carry elections without rebuke by direct 
appeals to the cowardice, the disloyalty, and the avarice of the multitude — while it 
does not hesitate to say, ' Vote the Democratic ticket, and the draft will be arrested, 
the War taxes repealed, and the currency restored to solvency by a speedy Peace,' I 
apprehend that the most earnest efforts of the Republicans will be put forth in vain. 

" There is no need of a long war. Just let the People of the loyal States unitedly 
resolve that the Rebellion shall be put down, and its last ember will be dead by next 
June. We have the men and the means and can fight the Rebels out of munitions in a 
month. Only let it be generally agreed that we will crush out the Rebel Confederacy 
in the impending campaign or frankly give up the job, and we can have men and money 
enough. It is the prospect of never-ending War that depresses the National credit and 
paralyzes patriotic devotion." — Tribwrie, February 7, 1863. 

What H. G. Finally Knew about Gen. McClellan. 

"When General McClellan was called to Washington, we most heartily approved, 
commended, and rejoiced over his appointment. We knew then, as well as we do now, 
that he was a bigoted Pro-Slavery Democrat, but we cared nothing for th.at so long as 
we believed him intent on crushing the Rebellion. We clung to him through disap- 
pointment and disaster, waiting for the roads to dry, the Potomac to reach a proper 
stage, 'the leaves to.fall,'&c., &c., until we were reluctantly driven to the conclusion that 
he was under the direction and control of self-seeking, partisan wire-workers who had 
decided that the rebellion should not be put down by force of arms, but that the Rebel 
chiefs should be bribed or bought over to further acquiescence in the existence of the Unioa 
by new concessions to the Slave Power, involving the further extension and aggrandize- 
ment of slavery in our Union. And as that is, in our view, the worst conceivable 
result of our present struggle, involving every element of national crime, disgrace, and 
downfall, we slowly, reluctantly surrendered all faith in Gen. George B. McClellan— ail 
hope of triumph under his command. We regard him as a man of moderate general 
ability, a pretty good defensive engineer, a slow, timid, and ineffective General, not at 
heart disloyal, but the associate and the instrument of craftier men who% hearts are 
with Jeff. Davis, and who are more solicitous for the preservation of Sla^aey than t<xi 
that of the \Jmon."— Tribune, July 6, 1863. 

What H, G. Knew about the Prospect of Foreign Intervention. 

"I stated, in reply to The Times, that I believed the Rebels would be I'SSten in the 
campaign now opening, and that being beaten they would be compelled to lay down 
their arms; and that Foreign Intervention, should any take place, would be on the side 
of the Union. I added that if loe should be beaten, the Intervention would probably 
take the side of the Rebels— in other words, it would base itself upon aocompliahed 
facts, and urge that they be respected. Here are my words : 

" We believe that the time will come— we do not say how soon, as that Must depend 
on the results of conflicts yet future — when the Great Powers of Europe will mediate — 
not by blows, nor by menaces, bat by representations — against a continuj.jice of the 
struggle as fruitless, wasteful butchery, and urge a settlement in the interestt jf Humaia- 
ity and Commerce." — Tribune, February 2, J863. 

What H. G. Knew about Gen. Hooker's advance at ChancellorsviL\ 

" It is positively affirmed that a great battle, seven hours in duration, war fought <ffi 
Sunday at Chancellorsville, between Gen. Hooker and Gen. Lee, in which tie l^lJ§te 

17 



82 What Horace Greeley Knows 

were repulsed, with immense losses on both sides, and the death of several Major-Oen- 
erals on ours. Neither, therefore, in the news which we have received by mail, nor in 
the silence which the Government preserves, nor in the relative positions of the two 
forces, do we find cause for other than confident expectation of decisive success. It may 
be presumed there has been heavy work, the result of which we do not know; but we 
regard it as very probable that the general engagement may have been postponed, or 
that if a serious battle has taken place, the news is only withheld because Gen. Hooker 
did not choose, in the circumstances explained above, to convert a repulse of the enemy 
into an immediate rout." — Tribune, May 5, 1863. 



Whaf H. G. Knew about the Military Situation in July, 1863. 

" Cicero, belaboring Catiline, in one of a celebrated series of philippics, remarks that 
the day upon which we were saved should be dearer to us than the day upon which we 
were born. If this be so, perhaps a pleasanter festival awaits us in the future than that 
which has been so dear to us in the past. From one point of view this is doubtless the 
darkest Fourth of July which has dawned upon us since the commencement of our 
national existence. From another, we do sincerely believe that it is the brightest. 
Heretofore there has been such a vast and dishonorable disproportion between our pro- 
fession and practice, that our Fourth of July feast in honor of Human Equality has 
been to many honest minds but a dismal and mocking saturnalia, noisy but purposeless, 
enthusiastic but fearfully inconsistent. Our very finest orations have seemed full of a 
savage and skillful irony. We could hardly talk of liberty without laughing in each 
other's faces. The Declaration of Independence read like a rare joke. That famous 
axiomatic, initial sentence, the peg upon which the whole document hangs by a sort of 
logical necessity, was sneered at by Calhoun and his disciples, denounced by Divinity 
Doctors, and demolished by the Ethnologists as a mere conceit from the Frenchified 
mind of Mr. Jefierson. ' I say that all men are not born free and equal,' said Mr. Cal- 
houn; ' a negro is not born free, and he never can be my equal !' ' Men born free and 
equal !' cried Dr. Lord, * stufi" and nonsense ! read the Book of Genesis !' ' Free and 
equal, indeed !' simpered the Ethnological Sciolist; 'look at that slopping facial angle, 
and then talk of Freedom and Equality if you can !' " — Tribune, July 4, 1863. 



What H. G. Knew was the Turning Point of the War. 

" Confidently as the Nation has waited to hear the surrender of Vicksburg, the an- 
nouncement came yesterday with the suddenness of an unexpected triumph, and filled 
with new happiness the grateful hearts of a people which had just welcomed the tidings 
of Victory and deliverance in the East. The steady purpose, the unshaken fortitude, 
the fertile talent, the heroic determination of Gen. Grant, and the courage of his noble 
army, are crowned at last with success. The nation owes to them a triumph so bril- 
liant, and so fruitful of results, that its gratitude is lost in the bewilderment of Joy; 
but it reverences the great qualities and great achievements of this army and its leader 
not less than it will when other victories shall have added lustre to the completeness of 
this. The fall of Vicksburg divides the Rebel Confederacy territorially, destroys its politi- 
cal coherence, and shatters its military strength. The centralized despotism which Jef- 
ferson Davis sought to establish, the slaveholding empire which should girdle the Gulf, 
and even the last hope of an independent national existence, sank into the ground 
when the banner of the Republic rose over the citadel of the Mississippi. Insurgent 
States may still maintain an armed opposition to the authority of the Government, but 
their rebellious alliance is dissolved, and their ability to conduct a great war is at an 
end. Henceforth the Rebellion is manifestly a hopeless struggle against overwhelming 
forces; its claim to be respected as a Revolution is an imposture, and its decaying for- 
tunes will be followed with hardly more interest than belongs to a local insurrection." — 
Tribune, July 8, 1863. 

What H. G. Knew about Purchasing Substitutes. 

" Does a citizen who, being drafted to serve in the Union armies, promptly and cheer- 
fully provides and pays an acceptable substitute to serve in his stead, fulfil his legal 
and patriotic obligations? Common sense and the law of the land say yes; faction, 
disloyalty, and personal malice say no. Which shall be believed? We have been re- 
peatedly summoned to work on the roads of the district in which lies our home, and 
have always obeyed the requisition by substitute. Not that we deemed labor on the 
roads dishonorable or repulsive; not that we did not fully recognize and cheerfully ful- 
fil the obligation resting on us to do our share toward making and maintaining good 
roads, but simply because we could employ our own time to better advantage than in 
road-making, and could pay a more eflfective road-maker to work thereat in our stead 

18 



About War and Peace. 83 

with a part of what we could earn during the time he thus acted as our substitute. The 
postmaster was satisfied; so was our substitute ; the public interest was well regarded, 
and nobody yet, complained of or clamored at our making roads by proxy. Then why 
complain of the man who, having a family to support and a competence to win, being 
drafted to serve the country in arms, sends a more hardy, robust man— perhaps an ex- 
perienced soldier— in his stead." — Tribune, September 32, 1863. 



ff^at H. G. Knew about Entrusting the Management of the War to Gen. Grant. 

" It has pleased Congress to decree the appointment of a Lieutenant-General, and the 
President, with the entire assent of both Houses, has selected Ulysses S. Grant for the 
most responsible position. We had nothing to say, pro or con, while this matter was in 
progress; we neither urged the creation of a Lieutenant-Generalship, nor recommended 
Gen. Grant for the position. But now that the work is done, we must respectfully sug- 
gest that the conduct of the War, under the President, be committed absolutely to the 
Lieutenant-General, and that we all — Congress, Cabinet, and the Press, Republicans, 
Democrats, Conservatives, and Radicals — take hold and strengthen his hands for the 
immense responsibility devolved upon him. Let him not be impeded or embarrassed 
in his work either by speeches or articles, advice or criticism, until we shall have given 
him a fair trial. Let him not be condemned for one miscarriage, if there shall be one, 
but generally trusted and sustained until he shall have decisively shown that he can or 
cannot put down the Rebellion. Then let us act as the good of the Nation shall dictate; 
but, until then, let in his behalf Stonewall Jackson's message to his superior: ' Send me 
more men and fewer orders.' " — Tribune, March 5, 1864. 



What H. G. Knew when Gen. Grant took command of the Army of the Potomac. 

" To Lieut. -Gen. Grant the Nation's love and gratitude will be fervent and unmeas" 
ured. The Army of the Potomac hardly knew him a month ago; it knows him now 
and ever more. Had he shared the current estimate of its capacities, his misconception 
would have been natural; but he knew its worth instinctively and trusted implicitly to 
its valor and devotion. The result proves that he was right, and that that Army has at 
last found its true leader. Let us harbor no shadow of doubt that under his guidance 
that Army will promptly and thoroughly complete the work to which it has been called, 
and to which it has now proved itself so nobly adapted." — Tribune, May 14, 1864. 



What H. G. Knew about the True Military Genius of Gen. Grant. 

" We loathe man-worship, and distrust the worth of a nation which but one man can 
save; yet every day's experience strengthens our faith in Lieut. -Gen. Grant. The task 
devolved on him is arduous: he is confronted by an able General and a gallant, veteran 
army, who enjoy enormous advantages in their defensive attitude, the nature of the 
country, and their intimate knowledge of its topography; yet, from the hour of his 
crossing the Rapidan, Gen. -Grant has gone steadily, sturdily forward, repelling impetu- 
ous attacks; assaulting (when necessary) strongly fortified positions; withdrawing un- 
observed from the immediate front of his wary antagonist and effecting the most daring 
and difiicult flank movements, thereby achieving the fruits of victory without encoun- 
tering the carnage, which is the usual cost of such success — and all this with a stern 
quietude that indicates reserved force and a consciousness of powers adapted to any 
emergency. We are not apt to be over-sanguine ; we realize ' that victoiy is often a 
happy accident and that occurrences purely fortuitous often derange and defeat the 
ablest combinations; but having noted his bearing under every phase of fortune, his 
quick improvement of advantages, and his skillful reparation of mischances, we cannot 
doubt that he has a true military genius, and that he will do whatever one man can do 
to break the back of the Slaveholder's Rebellion." — Tribune, July 2, 1864. 



What H. G. Knew about his Peace Mission to Niagara Falls. 

" The telegraphic stories concerning Peace conferences at Niagara Falls have a slen- 
der foundation in fact, but most of the details are very wide of the truth. The Editor 
of this paper has taken part in and been privy to no further or other negotiations than 
were fully authorized, and more than authorized ; but these related solely to bringing 
the antagonists face to face in amicable rather than belligei'ent attitude, with a view to 
the initiation of an earnest effort for Peace, to be prosecuted at Washington. The 
movement has had no immediate success. Of course, all reports that the writer has 
been engaged in proposing, or receiving, or discussing hypothetical terms or bases of 
Peace, whether with accredited agents of the Richmond authorities or others, are ut- 

19 



84 WTiat Horace Greeley Knows 

terly mistaken. He has never had the slightest authorization to do anything of the 
sort; and he is quite aware of those provisions of law which relate to volunteer nego- 
tiators with public enemies. Those provisions he heartily approves, and is nowise 
inclined to violate. More than this he does not feel as yet at liberty to state, though he 
soon may be. 

"All that he can now add is his general inference that the pacification of our country 
is neither so difficult nor so distant as seems to be generally supposed." — Tribune, July 
12, 1864. 

" Meantime I very gladly agree that I wrote the President (as I understood that others 
did to his Premier if not to him) that certain eminent Rebels were in Canada, at or near 
Niagara Falls, who professed to have authority from Richmond to propose terms of 
Peace — that they were holding confidential interviews with leading Democrats from this 
side — that it was currently reported that terms of ' reconstruction ' were propounded 
and considered between them — and that it was further reported that one of them (Mr. 
C. C. Clay) had agreed to address a letter to the Chicago Convention indicating terms 
of Peace and Reunion. So much I heard, (in common, I presume, with many others,) 
and it seemed to me desirable that, if such terms toere proffered, the Government of the 
United States should have the first refusal of them. And I recollect that — in the first 
and much the longest letter which I addressed to the President on this subject — I 
roughly indicated certain bases of Peace and Reunion which I thought it would be 
expedient to offer to the Rebels in case their proffer to the Government should be — as I 
feared it would be — one that could not be accepted." — Tribune, August 5, 1864. 

' ' There has been much loose talk of peace negotiations with Rebels. I never en- 
gaged in any, though it seems I was warranted in so doing. I did not cross the ferry 
till after Major Hay's arrival, and then only at his urgent request; and I had no corre- 
spondence with any Confederate, save with regard to their authority to bind their 
chiefs and their going to Washington. It was never my understanding that the vital 
conditions of peace were to be settled by me at Niagara. 

" It seemed to me that after our simultaneous successes negotiation might wisely be 
trusted to finish the work; that all that was still needed was to make surely known to 
the Southern people that they could return to the Union on terms that they might now 
honorably and advantageously accept. In this conviction I tried repeatedly — and as 
well before as after the Niagara overture — to bring the belligerent parties responsibly 
face to face, so that they might earnestly try to restore peace to our blood-soaked coun- 
try. (I have certainly understood that Mr. Raymond made similar efforts just after the 
Niagara failure, but without success,) and, bunglingly as the Niagara business was 
managed on our side, Iknow that its result had a salutary influence at the South." — Tri- 
bune, August 11, 1865. 

"Mr. Greeley only 'rushed to Canada' when Presideat Lincoln directed him to do so, and 
then sorely against his will. His ' cuddling with traitors ' required a second urgent request from 
Major Hay, the President's secretary and special envoy. Up to the hour of Hay's arrival on the 
ground I had no interview, and only the most formal correspondence with any Rebels what- 
ever. Their overture came to me unsolicited and unexpected. I forwarded it to the President, 
but made no response to its authors till directed to do so by Mr. Lincoln. It is a special lie that 
I 'implored' the President to offer $400,000,000 for Peace, though I did suggest to him the wis- 
dom uf offering to pay that amount in case the Rebellion were given up and the Union restored, as 
a compensation for the slaves of loyal slave-owners, not of the Rebel States exclusively, but of all 
the Slave States."— Tribune, April 2i, 1867. 



PFhat H. G, Knew about the Blahs' Peace Mission to Richmond. 

" Our last dispatch from Washington states that Messrs. Erancis P. Blair, (senior,) 
and his sou, Montgomery, have gone to Richmond, and* that it is understood that their 
errand is one of Peace — or, perhaps we should more accurately say, to see whether any 
termination of our National struggle is now attainable. We presume their mission is 
not in terms official; but it were absurd to pretend, considering who they are, and 
what are their personal relations to the President, that it is unauthorized. 

"While we consider Richmond about the least hopeful point in the Confederacy at 
which to seek an acceptable Peace, and regret that the Messrs. Blairs had not proceeded, 
or offered to proceed, direct to Raleigh instead, and while we can scarcely encourage 
hopes of any immediate pacification as a result of this mission, we yet rejoice that it 
has departed, and are confident that its influences will be salutary and its ultimate con- 
sequences beneficent." — Tribune, January 2, 1865. 

20 



About War and Peace. 85 

What H. G. Knew about Intervention by the Roman Catholics in Europe. 
" We bave at length obtained a clue to the European complot, wherefrom the Slave- 
holding Rebels are comforting themselves with hopes of powerful and speedy aid to 
their sinking cause. Its outline is as follows: At an early age of our great struggle 
Bishop Lynch, (Roman Catholic,) of Charleston, S. C, was dispatched by Jefferson Da; 
vis to Europe with a broad commission to search for sympathizers and allies, but with 
instructions to make Rome the focus of his operations. The Bishop has remained in 
Europe ever since, and has been zealously devoting himself to his important political 
duties. It was not difficult for him to convince the master spirits of European Reaction 
and Absolutism that the Slaveholder's Rebellion was identical in spirit and purpose with 
their own cause, and enlist their sympathies thereupon; hut Bishop Lynch has gone fur- 
ther, and (whether with or without express warrant) assured the magnates of the Roman 
Catholic Church that its expansion and predominance, first in the confederacy, ultimately 
throughout this hemisphere, will be assured by the triumph of the Confederates. In 
deference to these representations a secret league of the Roman Catholic Powers — France, 
Spain, and Austria — under the guidance and with the express concurrence of the Pope, 
has, it is said, been formed, pledged to recognize the Confederacy on or immediately 
after the 4th of March next, under the pretext that the Union will thereafter consist of 
those States only which participated in the late Presidential election and ia the choice 
of Members of the approaching Congress. It is added that the league contemplates 
other than moral support to the slaveholding rebels, but not (we judge) at the outset. It 
is just possible that the withdrawal of Spain from her luckless adventure in San Do- 
mingo has some connection with this new undertaking." — Tribune^ January 30, 1865. 

"Bishop Lynch, (R. C.,) of Charleston, S. C, was an original, acrimonious, efficient, per- 
sistent pro-slavery rebel. He had a Te Deum celebrated in his cathedral on the reduc- 
tion of Fort Sumter by the rebels in April, 1861. He went to Europe next Summer as 
an emissary of the Rebellion, and did his utmost to get the Pope to take the side of that 
Rebellion— cZ2(Z induce him to recognize Jeff. Davis as a potentate, which no other mon- 
arch openly did. Now that the Rebellion is crushed, the Bishop comes here and preaches 
in favor of mercy, lenity, magnanimity, &c., &c. The doctrine is good— we urged the 
same long before, but, really, we do not feel that Bishop Lynch can help it much. 
His 'record' is in the way." — Tribune, March 3, 1866. 



What H. G. Knew about Gen. Butler'' s Treatment of the Rebels. 

" Gen. Butler might not be safe in New Orleans, and he might be maliciously dealt with in 
Charlestown. It cannot be denied that he is extremely well hated by those who felt the force 
of bis heavy and vigorous hand during the Rebellion, and who were compelled by him to main- 
tain an outward obedience to the laws when obedience was most distasteful. It is not for 
nothing that they have nicknamed him ' the Beast.' Schoolboys have found a similar comfort 
when writhing under a deserved fustigation. That he is much hated by the higher class of 
Rebels, by the -more honorable and intelligent of the Secessionists, we do not believe. They 
hare the sense to comprehend that Gen. Butler did no more than his duty ; they respect him 
for doing it vigorously, albeit they may have smarted under his vigor, and they would be 
ashamed to complain that he treated New Orleans very m\ich as they would have treated 
Washington if it had fallen into their hands. Those who were half Rebels and half rogues 
entertain a different feeling ; yet while they continue to believe that the fate of Mr. Lincoln 
was simply yist, and that it would have been but fair to reduce New York to ashes by the 
hand of a midnight incendiary, they may well hold Gen. Butler in horror and in hatred. His 
reward has been the gratitude of all loyal men and the hatred of anarchists and of traitors. He 
may well be proud of the invectives which have been hurled against him. ' The one small ser- 
vice which he could render to England,' says Macaulay in his brilliant essay on Bar^re, ' was to 
hate her ; and such as he was may all who hate her be.' The wrath of the unregenerate Seces- 
sionist is the crowning glory of Gen. Butler's life. — Tribune, January 27, 1868. 



What H. G. Knew of the Death Struggles of the Confederacy. 

" When a man is dying all his neighbors hasten to prescribe for him, and all of them 
to prescribe infallibly. So it is with the Confederacy. It has been given over by the 
regular doctors, and as the dew of death is upon its brow it should strive to emulate the 
immortal Caesar and die with decency. But this is just what its nurses will not permit. 
They howl by the bedside and call Heaven to witness the virtues of their pills and pow- 
ders, their potions and plasters. They make an incredible noise about this remedy aud 
the other — they even try the efficacy of swearing, and are about as sensible in their 
incantations as a medicine man in the Gorilla country; but the fact remains that the 
patient is every moment getting short of wind, that forts are gone, that harbors are 

2X 



86 What Horace Greeley Knows 

gone, that territory is gone, that the army is gone, that the money is gone, that the navy 
is gone, that hope is gone, and that Richmond is — going! Under such circumstances 
smiles must be sickly and laughs distressingly hysterical. Why talk of ' dying in the 
last ditch,' when the Confederacy will soon have no last ditch left to die in? Davis 
may strive to throw the responsibility of prolonging for a little time this hopeless con- 
test upon the epauletted shoulders of Lee, and that General may shift it over to a quak- 
ing and demoralized Congress; but the world and history will lay the blame, not upon 
individuals, but upon the State, which, after engaging in an unholy enterprise, wasted 
the life of a society, its wealth, and its peace in a passionate and hateful attempt to ac- 
complish the impossible." — Tribune, March 29, 1865. 



What H. G. Knew about the Triumph of the North over the South. 

" Northern sagacity may be proud of the literal fulfillmentof its various warninga. Its sturdy 
common sense has never been made so conspicuous. It foresaw, foretold, and has lived to be a 
witness The reality has even exceeded the prediction. Vast armies have made a vaster desola- 
tion than friend or foe could have dreamed of. The great centres of Southern commerce are 
now silent as the Cities of the Plain. The world has ceased to know them as ports of entry. 
Her arrogant nabobs, who once flaunted in brocade, now flutter in rags. Her millions of bank- 
ing capital are all gone. The drum-beat of each advancing army has been a summons to her 
bondsmen to up and be free. Slaves flee from masters, and masters from slaves, until it is doubt- 
ful which class of fugitives is the more numerous. Her debt has grown to be colossal, but with- 
out foundation. The collapse of the currency bubble is already upon her. The North, having 
never been the victims of calamities like these, can form no just conception of the misery that 
goes with them. But while her sagacity enabled her to foretell the doom of the South, it pos- 
sessed the crowning merit of enabling her to shun a similar one for herself." — Tribune, Janwr 
ary 2*1, 1864. 

What H. G. Knew of General Grant'' s Conquest of Peace. 

" It is characteristic of General Grant that having, by dint of five days' hard fighting, 
driven the enemy out of the tremendous works surrounding his capital, he stopped not 
one single moment to enjoy the parade of an entrance into Richmond, but, with an un- 
remitting energy, pushed after Lee as well when he was a fugitive as when he madly 
clung to his defences. On Sunday night Lee fled. On Monday morning Grant's columns 
were once more in motion, and along the banks of the Appomattox began a race with 
the Rebels for the Danville road." — Tribune, April 4, 1865. 

"There is nothing in history like this campaign of Grant's. It began a year ago. 
'I shall fight on this line,' he said, 'if it takes all Summer.' It took all Summer 
and all Winter, but he never relaxed for a moment his clutch on Lee and the 
Rebellion. He ' had him where he wanted him' all the time. He hurled him from the 
Rapidan; he shut him up in Richmond, and bound him there with chains that he could 
not break, except by self-destruction. He broke them at last, but Grant threw himself 
with all his strength upon the flying Rebel. Escape was impossible from that impetuous 
pursuit, from that masterly generalship. It was the hare and the hounds; the lion and 
his prey; the strong man and the child; there was no escape. Lee sukrendered, and 
THE Rebellion is ended." — Tribune, April 10, 1865. 



What H. G. Knew about Gen. Grants Terms of Surrender.' 

" We do firmly believe that Gen. Grant was as wise as he was generous in granting 
such liberal terms to the remnant of General Lee's army on condition of its laying 
down its arms. We do not doubt that he did so with and by the adviee of President 
Lincoln, who, we are confident, will proceed in the line of magnanimous policy thus 
indicated, if not overruled by bad advisers and deterred by what he mistakes for public 
opinion. For if we allow Lee, Wise, Gordon, Pickett, Early, Ruggles, Ould, «&c., 
&c., &c., upon their syrrender to go in safety to their homes, with a pledge that they 
shall there remain ' undisturbed ' so long as they shall continue to deport themselves 
loyally and quietly, how can you fail to treat with equal lenity those who may here- 
after surrender ? If these ought not to be tried and punished, who should be ? Nay, 
with what show of fairness can you put others on trial for their lives, yet allow these 
to go free." — Tribune, April 13, 1865. 

" Gen. Grant we esteem by no means a great man, nor even a very great General, yet 
he has, in every position he has filled, evinced a modest good sense, a practical, unos- 
tentatious sagacity, which have justly won for him a large measure of public confi- 
dence. He is not by training a statesman, yet his negotiations with Gen. Lee and the 

22 



About War and Peace. St 

terms of capitulation conceded by him at Appomattox evince a wisdom and breadth 
of view which few among our statesmen could have equaled, and none of them has sur- 
passed. We do profoundly honor and esteem him that he has never uttered one syllable 
that sounded of exultation over the defeated Rebels, or called down vengeance on their 
heads. The blood-and-thunder policy of execution and confiscation, which we intensely 
loathe, has had no more effective opponent than this taciturn, reticent, first soldier of 
the Union." — Tnbune, November 7, 1867. 

PFbat H. G. Knew about Peace in June, 1867. 

'"Let us have peace.' "With these words Gen. Grant, in his letter of acceptance, 
summed up the political situation with the same unconscious felicity as when, before 
Spottsylvania-Court House, in 1864, he epitomized the military status in the electric 
sentence, 'I propose to fight it out on this line if ?t takes all Summer.' Victory, decis- 
ive and complete, was then the Nation's prime requirement — now it is Peace, true, real, 
lasting Peace. That Peace the Democratic party will not, cannot give, because it pro- 
claims and builds upon an eternal, implacable antagonism of Race — because it holds 
Black and brown men created to Jse vassals, if not the chattels of white men. True 
Democracy insists on the Equal Rights of Men; that spurious, sham Democracy which 
opposes Grant and Colfax asserts that ' This is a White Man's government, wherein none 
but Whites have any natural right to vote or be voted for. That party, if successful 
next Fall, is bound to do its utmost to divest of the right of Suffrage the Three Millions 
of our countrymen enfranchised by the Reconstruction acts, and remand them to the 
state of serfdom wherein their brethren in Maryland; Kentucky, and other Democratic 
States, now are. This is to incite a new War of Races — to invoke new horrors like 
those of San Domingo, where Emancipation was peacefully, legally, joyously effected, 
but Re-enslavement, though never consummated, whelmed the whole island in confla- 
gration and massacre. Give us Peace !" — Tribune^ June 6, 1868. 

What H. G. Knew about Gen. Grant's Prosecution of the War. 

"Prom the beginning to the end of that struggle Ulysses S. Grant rose through every 
grade known to our service. A poor, obscure, friendless, private citizen, he volun- 
teered at the outset and was chosen captain of a company. He was soon made Adju- 
tant, then Colonel, then Brigadier-General, then Major-General, then Lieutenant-Gen- 
eral ; finally General-in-chief . Yet nobody ever heard of his asking for a better post. 
In every case of his promotion he took the position wherein he was wanted — no one 
ever heard of Ms wanting a better one than he already had. ' Friend, come up higher,' 
was the mandate addressed to this lowly servant of the Republic — not that he wanted 
promotion, but that the country sorely needed the right man in the right place. He 
favored no ' policy ' but the crushing out of the Rebellion. He had no conception of 
duty that led him to regard the Federal Executive with distrust or disfavor. In short. 
Grant quietly received his orders, and to the extent of his ability, executed them. It 
will be the fault of the People if this species of generalship is not more common here- 
after."— 2W6M7ie, July 2%, 1868. 

What H. G. Knew about the first Triumph of Liberty, Justice, and Peace. 

'■^The election of Ch'ant secures the ascendancy of Liberty, Justice, and Peace. It is 
the Appomattox of our civil conflict. It insures that ours shall be henceforth a land 
of equal rights and equal laws. It makes our recent history coherent and logical. It 
demonstrates that the discomfiture of the Rebellion was no blunder and no accident, 
but the triumph of principle and an added proof that God reigns." — TribuTie, August 
15, 1868. 

What li. C. Knew about the Confederate Soldiers. 

" The fires of factions must soon go out for want of fuel. Every day will diminish the num- 
ber of savage memories and of rampant recollections. The question of Secession has had a 
sanguinary adjudication, and every hour will lessen this brood of brawling dissenters from the 
verdict of war. They will be killed in duels. They will be slaughtered in bar-rooms. They 
will be locked up in penitentiaries. They will talk till nobody hears, and prophesy until no- 
body heeds them. They will fade gradually away as a class, simply because as a class the re- 
generated society of the South has no use for them, and will care no more for their opinion of 
war than for their opinion of Mary, Queen of Scots." — Tribune, January 2, 1869. 

What H. G. Knew about Gen. Robert E. Lee. 

" Take the case of Lee. If we believe in constructive treason, or admitted the popular doc- 
trine that rebellion should be punished by hanging, we should take Gen. Lee as a conspicuous 

23 



88 What Horace Greeley Knows. 

example. Of all the Rebels, civil and military, he was perhaps the most gifted, the most dan- 
gerous, aud the most wanton. As a soldier he carried the confidence of his chief to the camp 
of the R,ebellion, and aided in swaying Virginia into the war without cause or provocation. 
Men rebelled from fanaticism, ignorance, devotion to Slavery. Gen. Lee was a Rebel from am- 
bition. 

" Peace brought political and personal duties to all of us. To Robert E. Lee it brought a 
duty of honor. He possessed great influence with the Southern Rebels. He knew how greatly 
he had sinned and with what magnanimity he had been protected by Gen. Grant. We are told 
that when he saw the generosity of Grant to his shattered army, he was •' overcome with emo- 
tion ' — that he was profuse with thanks. Since that tearful day, however, he has been silent. 
He knew what the welfare of the South demanded — that amnesty was at hand if suffrage were 
jjiven — that the North merely wanted justice secured to the race it had freed — to throw down 
every barrier, and unite every interest in the harmony of a restored Union. He saw the Cobbs 
and Hills of the South, the men who had been warriors in peace and citizens in war, ferment- 
ing discord aud bitterly assailing every plan of reconstruction. He saw these cowardly myr- 
midons of hatred filling the South, like many evil spirits. Like the witches in Macbeth, they 
have worked their charms — to a dismal, fatal end — and infected the very air with their ' hell 
broth, boil, and bubble.' Like the Centaurs in Dante's Hell, their aim seems ever to drive 
back the race so long at their mercy into the dark river of blood. See what they have made 
the South ! Emigration is arrested — capital shrinks from her cities and seaports — commerce 
seeks less congenial but more secure climes — credit is dead — her vast resources are neglected — 
there is no industry, no enterprise, no national progress, no public spirit — nothing but political 
chaos and social anxiety. The men whose energy would bless the South are banished, while 
those whose industry would make her fields to blossom as the rose are held in cruel and dreary 
subjection. This has come because her people have listened to prophets as faL^e as Johnson and 
Toombs and Wise, and because the men whose voices should have been commanding — men like 
Lee and his generals — have been either silently or sullenly antagonistic. Lee, especially, has 
had the happiness of great States at his bidding, and he has chosen tp remain neutral, to shrink 
from duty and responsibility behind the groves of his Lexington Academy. Instead of acting 
the part of Washington, to which he is said to aspire, he has been merely the Turveydrop 
Grandson of the South. The people he led to ruin have looked for three years for leadership 
and action. He has merely given them deportmentand phrases." — Tribune, August 31, 1868. 



fFbat H. G. Knew about President Johnson's Amnesty Policy. 

" It is said that Mr. Johnson is about to publish a proclamation of Amnesty, and the prob- 
abilities are that it will be pretty near universal in its terms. But can the President make such 
an offer in virtue of the powers vested in him by the Constitution, and without the intervention 
of Congress? We think it very clear that he cannot. The Constitution gives him authority 
to ' grant reprieves and pardons for offences againt the United States.' Now a pardon and an 
amnesty are two very different things. A pardon is an act of grace exempting a person from 
penalties which he has incurred under the law. Amnesty is defined as ' an act of the sovereign 
power, the object of which is to efface and cause to be forgotten a crime or misdemeanor.' Am- 
nesty is abolition of the offence. Pardon is remission of the penalty. The sovereign power of this 
nation is not the President, but the people. The representative of the people is not Andrew 
Johnson, but the National Congress. The President may pardon individual offenders,- but the 
Constitution gives him no authority to declare a general amnesty. If it did, he might nullify 
every act of legislation to the violation of which any penalty is affixed, and virtually exercise 
an absolute veto over many of the most important proceedings of Congress. This proposed 
proclamation, therefor, can only be regarded as the boldest defiance of the people which the 
President has yet uttered. He assumes to exercise a power which was only granted him for a 
time, and then deliberately taken away. It is better for him to understand that when the peo- 
ple, through their representatives, took away that temporary authority, they meant to keep it 
in their own hands, and there they will keep it, Johnson, Binckley, and all the rest of the nul- 
lifiers to the contrary notwithstanding." — Tribune, September 5, IBS'?. 



What H. G. Knew about How the South Should be Treated. 

" We can surrender to National restoration and fraternity everything but Good Faith. We 
can regard and treat the Rebels as our countrymen, provided they will regard and treat the 
steadfast loyalists in like manner. We stand ready and eager to forgive them for having been 
Rebels if they will forgive Three or Four millions of Unionists for having been born Black. 
There are some who say, 'Let us treat the South with generous confidence.' Certainly ; but 
not at the expense of honor and good faith. If you were intrusted by a friend with his money, 
and he should ask you for it, you would not expect him to be satisfied with the answer. ' I 
gave it to your enemy, in order to evince ray confidence in him.' 'Sir,' he would naturally re- 
join, 'it was my business to evince confidence in the disposal of my money ; you should have 
given something that was your own.' "-^Tribune, February 22, 186G. 

21 



WHAT HORACE GREELEY KNOWS 

ABOUT 

Tlie Bise and Fall, the Arrest and the Imprisonment, the Trial and 
the Release on Bail, of Jefferson Davis, 
, dtc, c&c, (&C., &c. 



What H. G. Knew about Jefferson Davis in June, 1854. 

" Jefferson Davis is Secretary of War. So rank, indeed, is his avowed hatred to the Union 
that he resigned his seat in the United States Senate, preparatory to appearinp; as one of the 
leaders in the formation of ' Mr. Calhoun's Southern Republic' In a speech at Natchez, Miss., 
he spoke of the contemplated Disunion, and, with all the explanatory eloquence he is master of, 
incited rebellion against the Federal authorities. Over his own signature he declared himself in 
favor of ' Armed resistance and insurrection' rather than slavish submission to the Federal 
laws, (the Cgmpromise measures,) and suggested the establishment in the South of manufactories 
of arms and ammunition, as the most efficient preparation for the final alternative — Separation. 
Col. Davis counseled with Gen. Quitman, and indorsed that gentleman's Secession message, 
and sympathized with Quitman's confederates in their refusal to raise the stars and stripes over 
the State Capitol of Mississippi. Soule finds his home in France, and could apply the knife to 
the throat of his adopted Country wilbo it committing matricide; but Davis is native-burn, 
educated at the expense of the nation, a hero of Bueua Vista, and yet, while sufifering from the 
unhealed wounds obtained in that bloody but glorious field, he was organizing treason in the 
Slate of Mississippi and counseling armed resistance to the Federal Government. There cannot 
be any love for the Union in his composition, for the struggle of the brave men who fell at* 
Angostura and in his sight, in defence of the Stars and Stripes, could not endear that ensi<iu 
to his memory and sanctify its mission to his heart — a moral degradation that fipds no parallel 
in historj^" — Tribune, June 19, 1854. 



What H. G. Knew aboxd Jefferson Davis in January, 1865. 

" The telegraph announces the election to the Senate of the United States of Jefferson Davis, 
at present Secretary of War. _ Unluckily the vacancy he is chosen to fill does not occur till a 
year from next March. It is a great pity he could not go into the Senate immediately. In 
that body he would doubtless do all the mischief he could ; but the Senate is so ' valorous' 
already, that even a Jeff. Davis stirred in would not add much to the Villainy of the compound. 
Of the Cabinet he is a large part — we might say the largest part ; and he adds to it the ingredient 
of boldness which none of the other members have. It is he, doubtless, who has spirited up the 
President to threaten to back up the Missouri Border-Ruffians by the regular army of the 
United States. Shooting Indians is delightful to some people; but shooting Free-State immi- 
grants to Kansas would be still more so." — Tribune, January 26, 1856. 

What H. G. Knew about Jefferson Davis in November, 1858. 

" The Hon. Jefferson Davis has just made a most warlike speech to the warlike citizens of a 
warlike town, called by the warlike name of Jackson, in the warlike State of Mississippi — which 
is published in that military and martial newspaper, The Daily Mississippian — calling his fel- 
low-citizens to rally to ' the harvest home of death.' Mr. Jefferson Davis turns up his mag- 
nificent nose at 'resolutions,' and treats Legislatures with as much contempt as Napoleon treated 
the Directory. Mr. Jefferson Davis is for trying what virtue there may be in guns, drums, 
fifes, powder, ball, and swords, both of the small and broad description. He calls upon the 
State to establish an ' armory' in which to grind the old swords and tinker the old guns now in 
possession of Mississippi, in which ' to manufacture on a limited scale new arms, including 
cannon and their carriages' — in which to 'cast shot and shell' — in which to prepare 'fixed 
ammunition,' wherewithal, we suppose, to 'fix' the enemy. In this way, this martial Colonel 
proposes to solve a ' problem,' which he declares is a ' physical' one, not to be solved by ' mere 
resolutions.' This ferocious Colonel, however, can be soft as well as savage. He has an af- 
fection which we may almost call amorous for the American flag. He says he has upheld it 
upon fields where, if he had fallen, ' it would have been his winding sheet ;' he has gazed upon 
it in foreign countries, and noticed that as he looked upon it the pulsations of his heart beat 
quicker; its stripes he honors, its constellation he admits to be brilliant. He particularly 

89—1 



90 What Horace Greeley Knows 

glories in the private and personal Star of Mississippi. But suddenly all his tenderness for- 
sikes hito, and be cries out in ferocious tones that sooner than see that Star dimmed — sooner 
than see it degraded — we will ' tear it from its place' — he will 'set it even on the perilous ridge 
of b.vtile as a sign round which Mississippi's best and bravest should gather to the harvest home 
of death ' From this elevated position Jefferson sinks again to tenderness. The Mars of Missis- 
sippi could not close without paying his devoirs to 'gentle beauty ;' and when we abandoned 
the fuither perusal of his speech — the reading faculty having broken down — he was complying 
like a dancing master. From this we fear that the wholesome war with which he threatened 
us .will never be declared— that Mississippi will never grind the old swords and prepare the 
'fixed ammunition,' and that Mr. Jefferson Davis having, Caesar-like, been captivated by the 
Cleopatras of Mississippi, will sink into effeminate habits, and neither be shot nor hung, 
whereby justice, as usual, will be cheated." — Tribune, November 24, 1858. 

• What H. G. Knew about Jefferson Davis in June, 1860. 

" Mr. Davis is one of the Contingent Candidates of the bogus Democracy for President. Of 
course he has to be more guarded in his utterances than those whose time has passed by for 
that honor, or who know it will never come. When one of either of these classes gets the floor, 
we have unbounded extravagance of assertion and declamation. They scold and rant, and 
bluster and threaten, and throw off gas in windy explosions at a prodigious rate. The 
numerous examples of this sort of thing in the House, that have been constantly occurring ever 
since the assembling of Congress, have sufficiently illustrated the factious temper and traitorous 
declamation of Southern Democrats. It is an object to know if any of the gentlemen who stand 
in the category of possible Candidates for the Charleston nomination are ready to back these 
declarations. Mr. Davis, in his answer, at first was quite explicit in saying that if a moderate 
Repuljlican, like Mr. Foot of Vermont, for example, should be chosen by the Republicans, he 
would not regard it as a reason for secession. But he afterward qualified the admission, as he 
was pressed by Mr. Fessenden, so as finally to leave his position open to a double interpretation. 
As his exposition stood at the close, his disunion-threatening friends could claim him to be on 
their side: and yet it could be proved to the anti-disunion masses of the Free States, on his 
statement, that he was no kind of a disunionist whatever on the point in question, i'be real 
trutlTof the matter is that nothing is meant by all the blustering and bullying on the question, 
except to try to intimidate the North from voting as the masses of the people are inclined to vote. 
Mr. Davis came very near pricking the whole bubble, by his frank admission made at the 
start. But finding it would not do to leave his more open-mouthed supporters and Confederates 
so suddenly in the lurch, he laboriously and smokily qualified his original expression." — 
Tribune, January 31, 1860. 

Wkat H. G. Knew about Jefferson Davis in April, 1860. 

" Public sentiment proclaims that the most arrogant man in the United States Senate is Jef- 
ferson Davis. Nor does there seem to be much doubt that in debate he is the most insolent 
and insuflferable. Davis was effectually put down in the Senate Chamber on Thursday last, by 
Mr. Wilson, of Massachusetts, dui-ing a debate concerning the schools in the District of Co- 

, lumbia. A bill being pending to levy taxes to support these schools, Senator Durkee moved 
an amendment providing that all persons who paid taxes should have the right to send their 
children to the schools. In other words, that those negro parents who were taxed to support 
the schools should be entitled to have their offspring instructed therein. Mr. Davis not only 
opposed the amendment, but insisted that it was offered as an intentional insult to the slave- 

f holding side of the Chamber, Mr. Wilson argued in favor of educating all the children in the 
Distiict. Davis replied with rare insolence and effrontery, and was most offensively personal 
toward Wilson, taunting him impliedly with being no gentleman because he offered insults to 
his associates in the Senate, and then would not give them the 'satisfaction which one gentle- 
man has the right to demand of another.' The reply of the Massachusetts Senator was so 
pungent and powerful, so defiant and determined, that it extorted a qualified disclaimer and 
Napology from the Mississippian on the spot." — -Tribune, April 14, 1860. 



What H. G. Knevj about the plans of Jefferson Davis in February, 1861. 

" Mr. Jefferson Davis, in a speech made since his election to the Presidency of the ' Confed- 
erate States of America,' has declared that if civil war shall result from the present commo- 
tions, the battle will be fought on Northern soil, because the superior prowess and military 
habits of the slaveholders will enable them to invade and overrun the Free States. This is, 
of course, a mere piece of bravado, put forth for political effect at the North and for the en- 
coura',rement of his own followers. Mr. Davis is a graduate of West Point, and no man can 
have passed through the discipline and the course of instruction of that institution without ac- 
quiring a sufficient amount of historical knowledge and of military science to be aware that 
no nation or state with an accessible seaboard can venture on offensive operations against an 
enemy who commands the sea. We do not suppose that any warlike movements except such 
as are necessary to recover the property of the United States will be required from the Gov- 
ernment. But if a serious war, now or at any future period, should unfortunately be waged 



^ 



About the Rise and Fall of Jefferson Davis. 91 

between the North and the South, it would only be ne'^essary for the Government of the North 
to concentrate at New York a small fleet of sea-going Sieamers and an army of 20,000 or 30,000 
men to hold the South in perpetual check. Not a man would be sent northward from any of 
the Atlantic or Gulf Slave States while they were menaced at home by such a force, ready in a 
few days' sail to descend upon their coast, without warning, and without the possibility of 
being met at all points by an adequate resisting force. The maritime supremacy of the United 
States will be of incalculable value if we are forced into a war with the rebels. They never 
can have a navy, for even if they could proctire ships they could not man them, for seamen 
cannot, like soldiers, be exifemporized. They must grow naturally from the habits and ten- 
dencies of the people. Those who command the sea in this age of steam have the immense 
advantage that they can transport troops with ease and expedition to any point on a hostile 
coast, and can keep an entire seaboard in terror by the uncertainty which envelopes the move- 
ments and the destination of a fleet upon the high seas. All the military forces that the rebel 
States can possibly bring into the field will be fully occupied in looking after their own coasts. 
They will have none to spare for the invasion of the North. The United States Government, 
on the other hand, can, with a very moderate naval and military force at its disposal, carry on 
as great a war as we are likely to see, even in the worst extremity." — Tribune, February 14, 
1861. 

" Mr. Jefferson Davis, the President elect of that modern Barataria, the 'Confederate States 
of America,' made a speech to his 'Fellow-Citizens and Brethren' at Montgomery, on Saturday 
night last, which had the very great merit of being brief and explicit. Among other comfort- 
ing declarations which President Davis made to his 'brethren' was this : we have n.) thing 
'to fear at home, because at home we have homogeneity.' By 'home' he meant, of course, the 
soil of the six Seceding States. But what sort of a homogeneity can this new Confederacy 
boast of? One half the population is not only of a wholly different race from the other, but of 
a different color, of an inherent, organic, and constitutional antagonism, so that the two races 
not only fear each other, but must of necessity hate each, other. The homogeneity is that 
which exists between those who suffer wrong and those who inflict the suffering, and if the 
'brethren' of the -Confederate States have no better guaranty for an absolution from fear than 
that of homogeneity, they will be in as shaky and nervous a condition as Mr. Buchanan in his 
last message to Congress represented the whole South to be." — Tribune, February 19, 18G1. 

What H. G. advised Jefferson Davis in May, 1861. 

" We would respectfully suggest to H. E. Jefferson Davis that after he has finished 'effect- 
uating a loan' he should proceed to curb, restrain, mitigate, and even silence the Bards of tlie 
Confederacy. We do not mean our dear Leatherwood, who is the best of the class, but the 
others whose poetry is principally a cross between Lucy Long and Doctor Watts. ' Good 
Whisky,' said a Western Judge, in charging a jury, 'is favorable, as the Court knows from 
personal experience, to health and longevity; but for such a miserable article as this the 
plaintifl" cannot recover.' Good poetry, say we, is favorable to revolutions and even rebellions ; 
but these Southern songs, at least such of them as have greeted our admiring eye, can only 
make the Confederacy ludicrous. Where's Si mms? Why slumbers his lofty lyre? Where's 
Paul Hayne, who used to come all the way to wicked Boston for a publisher? Where's — but, 
really we cannot think of anybody else. 

'' Lord Macaulay went to the ballad treasures of England with great success for the illustration 
of manners and of popular feeling. What a figure the Confederacy will cut when future his- 
torians unearth the ballads ! Men will say : These verses are vainglorious, vulgar, illiterate, 
coarse, revengeful, worthy of second-class, unworthy of first-class savages. ^This will not be 
the verdict of any man, but of criticism itself, from the judgment of which there can be no 
appeal. And for criticism there will be ample material. We have in our possession a tolerable 
range of collection of these Southern 'poems,' carefully culled and unmistakably identified ; 
and when it passes from our hands it shall go where it will be preserved, and where, one hun- 
dred years hence, it will be read by antiquarians, historians, and philosophers. Whether we 
conquer or are conquered, we mean that posterity shall know, at least, who wrote the best 
poetry. The Bancroft of the twentieth century shall smile upon Leatherwood through his 
spectacles, and the Clarendon of this rebellion shall grin at the slaveholdins; bards. Nothing 
but the capture vi et armis of our escritoire can prevent this. Therefore, Jefferson, we advise 
you to officially snub your strident strummers 1" — Tribune, May 31, 1861. 

• What H. G. Knew about negotiations with Jeff . Davis in July, 1C61. 

" Judge Campbell's disclosure proves bow little faith can be reposed in the announcement 
from the State Department respecting negotiations with Southern traitors. The flat contradic- 
tion of the Draper dispatch. seems to have suggested greater ambiguity in future, and for hiding 
the truth this second dispatch is a gem. While seeming to contradict the report, the Secretary 
neither affirms nor denies it. Why this ambiguity? The times require plain truth and fair 
dealing with the public by all Government officials. Neither Punic faith nor Greek duplicity 
are suited to the American people, or becoming to their officials. In respect to dealings with 
the enemy, and whatever concerns the peace and preservation of the Republic, they want the 

3 



92 What Horace Greeley Knows 

truth, the whole truth, and, above all, nothing but the truth. Silence they will respect, but 
dissembling will call forth stern rebuke. What, then, is the truth about this matter ? The 
public have a right to know, in plain and distinct terms, whether any proposition for peace or 
compromise has been received by the President or Secretary of ^tate from Jeff. Davis, and 
what the administration are doing about it. They want plain English, and no diplomatic 
tricks." — Tribune, July 2, 1861. 

WTiat H. G. Knew about Jeff. Davis's Proclamation in November, 1861. 

"Jeff. Davis in his message talks of his war as purely defensive, when of the seven conflicts 
of which he boasts as ' glorious victories,' three were fought on the soil of a State still adher- 
ing to the Union. He boasts of abundant harvests and increased ability to prosecute the war, 
when the Prices Current of the cities under his sway show that all the comforts and most of 
the absolute necessaries of life are so dear that the poor must be at the door of starvation. He 
talks of an unbroken series of Confederate triumphs, but is careful not to mention Hatteras nor 
Port Royal. He vaunts the good condition of his finances, but (for a wonder) does not assert 
the success of his Cotton Loan. He proclaims that the United States had an army to begin the 
war with, while the Confederates had to create theirs ; when Beauregard, both Johnstons, Lee, 
Magruder, Twiggs, and nearly every other oflScer who has won any distinction in his armies, 
were in the Federal service until they deserted it for his. We cannot close without thanking 
the Mokanna Of this gigantic imposture for so frankly and thorougly repelling every suggestion 
of settlement by compromise. We overlook his tissue of lies concerning the barbarous and 
bloodthirsty spirit in which this war has been waged by the Unionists, in consideration of the 
statement imbedded in them that he will have Disunion or utter discomfiture — that ' for the 
independence we have asserted we will accept no alternative.' That puts an end to compro- 
mises and compromisers. The Republic may possibly be dismembered. It cannot be dishon- 
ored by making concessions of vital principle to the traitors who have plotted its downfall. So 
let the leader and oracle of the caitiffs who robbed the Nation by wholesale of her forts, 
arsenals, navy-yards, armories, mints, and sub-treasuries, before a shot was fired, and then in- 
augurated war by the bombardment of Fort Sumter, complain that some of his satellites have* 
been caught and caged, and that President Lincoln has been ' making war without the assent 
of Congress,' (when he had no choice left between making war and makimj off) — the Republic 
will thank its Government for every manifestation of vigor in defence of its integrity and right- 
ful authority which the head traitor arraigns, and only regrets that he has no more such to 
complain of." — Tribune, November 25, 1861. • 



What H. G. Knew about the Northern allies of Jefferson Davis in January, 1862. 

" It is not often that men visibly and palpably get their deserts in the very hour of their sin, 
but there is a class who are now enjoying such a dispensation. They are tjie Yankees who, 
having married Southern plantations or otherwise helped themselves to a slice of the profits of 
slave-driving, are nowdeep in the Jeff. Davis rebellion. These miscreant renegades can hardlj' 
open one of the wretched sheets which furnish the whole available current literature of Secessia 
without reading therein what mean, sordid, grovelling, hypocritical, cowardly, low-lived vil- 
lains the Yankees are, and how justly they are despised, detested, loathed at the South. And 
not one of them can look in a mirror without seeing the original from which this revolting 
picture was painted. Must they not feel accursed of Man and forsaken by God?" — Tribune, 
January 14, 186^ 

What H. G. Knew about the Politics of Jefferson Davis in February, 1862. 

"Now, can any man believe, in view of these notorious, threadbare facts, that Jefferson Davis 
considers a State really authorized and at liberty to dissolve at pleasure the bonds which 
attach her to the American Union? Did he intend to be understood, when he received a 
thorough education at the expense of the Union, that his duties to that Union would at an}' 
moment be terminated by the assumed withdrawal therefrom of the State in which he resided? 
When he took as a Senator the solemn oath of fidelity to the Federal Constitution, did he 
understand, and desire others to understand, that he held himself bound thereby only until his 
State should see fit to pass an act of Secession? Does he not well know that no such qualified 
and temporary allegiance would have been accepted by his fellow-Senators and the Couniry ? 
'The tyranny of an unbridled majority' Jeff, thinks very odious. If so, how much better is 
that of a lean minority? A faction, strong neither in character, in talent nor in numbers, 
using the political power of Slavery as their fulcrum, have virtually ruled this Nation for years. 
Having ceased to rule, they have resolved to divide and ruin it. The tone of Mr. Davis's 
Inaugural argues that their prospect of success is not flattering, even when viewed with partial 
eyes. When they succeed — -and Mr. Davis's last hope seems to be that the Union will run out 
of friends before it can complete the subjugation of his dupes — we will thank him to let us 
know." — 2V»6une, February 26; 1862. 



About the Rise and Fall of Jefferson Doajis. 93 

Wliat H- G. Knew about the Actual Condition of the Confederacy in Decerriber, 

1862. 

" We must do the Confederate mourners the justice to say that a great deal of wrath is 
tuixed up wiiy their wailing, and that their pluck is really more inexhaustible than their hen- 
coops. Whenever they have occasion to bewail the abduction of some patriot's cow, they in- 
variably call upon their serried cohorts to redress the slaughter of the animal. When some 
Rebel's house is visited by a bomb, to the serious derangement of the furniture, these news- 
paper warriors exhort the countless millions of the Confederacy to rush promptly to the rescue ? 
It seems just a little odd that before these sufferers plunged headlong into hot water, they 
should not have considered their ability to bear the predestinate blisters without bawling. 
They had a choice between peace and war, plenty and starvation, comfort and squalor. Their 
cows might still have grazed at pleasure, and Sammy Houston might have remained prattling 
under his own vine and fig-tree. The slightest common sense might have told these rash folks 
that our Government would hardly submit to a repudiation of its authority without an effort 
to maintain it. No method was left us but the military ; we had no resource but war ; and 
with war came slaughter, burning, forage, the sorrows of Sammy Houston, and the sway of 
the ogre Butler. School-boys do not like to be birched, but it does not follow that the school- 
master who administers wholesome castigation is a rufiBan. The Secessionists are having the 
dance for which they have so long been itching — why do they howl so dismally when called 
upon to pay the piper ? There are two ways in which outside observers may regard these 
traitors. Words are cheap, and plenty of small-beer poetry can be pumped up from the butts 
of benevolence. It is easy to say of these Rebels : ' Poor victims of despotism\! they are fight- 
ing for their roof-trees, and^hearth-stones, and altars, for their beautiful wives, their promising 
children, their ancestral acres, their lovely cities — and for these they endure hunger, cold, 
raggedness, and death itself !' This sounds well, but what does it all amount to? Great 
rascals may have roof-trees, and hearth-stones, and altars, and beautiful wives, and promising 
children, and ancestral acres, and lovely cities, and may suffer, to preserve them, hunger, cold, 
raggedness, death itself ! Bengal tigers have dens,"and cubs, and bones to fight for, but nobody 
laments the death of these creatures when arrested in a foraging expedition ; and, to do them 
justice, they never draw their handkerchiefs and begin to cry when fate and Gordon Gumming 
overtake them. Men who ask for the world's sympathy should first show that they deserve it. 
This is precisely what the Confederates have never been able to do. Could they have found a 
single substantial injury upon which to mount themselves, they would have had foreign friends 
enough long ago. It is because they have "no cause that they can get no co-operation." — 
Tribune, December, 5, 1862. 



What H. G. Knew about the Demoralization of Jefferson Davis in January, 1863. 

"Jeff. Davis is growing 'fearfully demoralized.' He used to be noted for reticence, but of 
late he makes a great many speeches. A certain degree of dignity, purity of style, and moder- 
ation of statement used to characterize his public utterances ; but these late speeches are full of the 
baldest demagoguery and the cheapest clap-trap. A grog-shop orator or cross-roads' politician 
ought to be ashamed of them. Some men are excusable through ignorance when they prate about 
our disregard of the usages of civilized warfare ; but Mr. Jefif. Davis knows better. He knows 
perfectly well that no war in history was ever conducted as magnanimously and leniently to- 
ward non-combatants as this has been by our Government. He knows that no people ever suf- 
fered as little from the presence of armies to which they were intensely hostile as the people of 
the South, in districts we have conquered, have suffered from us. He knows perfectly well what 
war inevitably means and brings ; yet he makes sensational speeches over the robbery of hen- 
roosts and the burning offence rails in an enemy's country, and talks as if ' the usages of civ- 
ilized warfl^re ' required us to hunt the negroes of our deadly enemies, and give all the people 
of the South complete newsuits of clothes and fifty dollars specie I And he is the chief of the peo- 
ple who shot our helpless, scalded marines, struggling for life in White River ; who made drink- 
ing cups and finger rings of the skulls and bones of our dead soldiers at Bull Run ; who have 
shot scores of prisoners in Missouri, in Mississippi, and even in Richmond ; who urged through 
their leading journals the assassination of Butler in New Orleans, hoped for the assassination of 
President Lincoln before his inauguration, and who are eternally talking about raising the 
black flag and hanging or shooting officers captured in battle." — Tribune, January 10, 1863. 

What H. G. Knew about Jefferson Davis as the Leader of the Insurrection in 1863. 

" Jefferson Davis is the leader of a Conspiracy, of an insurrection for the overthrow of that 
Government which not even he denies to have been constitutionally established, which had not 
nnd could not have done one act against any right, real or alleged, of the insurrectionary 
States, when the Rebellion was fanned into flame and the Cotton States precipitated into revo- 
lution, in pursuance of a scheme conceived thirty years before and steadily pursued meanwhile 
by men who had repeatedly sworn to support the Government they were persistently under- 
mining, and who have since crowned a long series of crimes — of theft, and perjury, and lurk- 
lug treason — by open rebellion and armed resistance to law, and by murders only equaled in 
number by the unprovoked barbarity of each. Insurrection against Free Government is a 

& 



94 What Horace Greeley Knoius 

claim to the sympathy and admiratiou of mankind ; but insurrection against .Slavery and In 
behalf of Freedom and Free Government exposes our country to detestation and our officers to 
cold-blooded assassination." — Tribune, January Id, 1863. •» 



What H. G. Knew about the Religious Views of Jefferson Davis in 1863. 

" Mr. Davis's continual resorts to religion, indicate something of the straits of a condemned 
malefactor, who, when he hears the carpenter at work upon the gallows, concludes to send 
for the chaplain. The Confederate President has issued anothet Proclamation for a Public 
Fast in his dominions, which, considering the condition of the flesh-pots in those demesnes, 
strikes us as just a little superogatory. 

"There are scrupulous persons who might object to the Prayers of Rebels as, to a certain ex- 
tent, blasphemous. But we do not. Let them pray. The pirates of Tripoli and Algiers pray. 
The Cannibals of Sumatra pray. The greasy and mud-smeared savages of Central Africa pray. 
There is said to be no heathen without a religion — all the other Heathens pray, and pray why 
should not the Confederates ?" — Tribune, MarchM, 1863. 

What H. G. Knew about the Grief of Jefferson Davis in 1864. 

" Alexander wept for a new world to conquer. ' Mr. Jefiferson Davis lets roll the river of the 
eye because Bragg has been beaten at Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge. So we are 
assured by the Richmond correspondent of The Mobile Advertiser. The Dictator of the Confed- 
eracy in tears, with The Richmond Enquirer crying to keep him company, presents about the 
most dismal spectacle which the world has witnessed since Belisarius carried about his hat, and 
Cains Marius stumbled among the rocky ruins of Carthage. But tears are said to be contagious. 
Unless Mr. Davis sets a better example we shall soon have the whole Confederate army roaring 
in regiments and blubbering by battalions. This will be a disappointment to amateur ad- 
mirers of indomitable pluck. We have, innumerable times, been told that the Rebels would 
die, hang, starve, freeze, burn their houses, sow their fields with salt, kill their wives and chil- 
dren, and even emancipate their slaves, rather than bend before the barbarous Yankees — and 
here we have the ferocious leader of these ferocious martyrs fingering his pink eyes, and allow- 
ing the fugitive tears to chase each other down his patrician nose. It is a pretty condition of 
affairs, indeed, when a purveyor of intelligence in Richmond thinks it necessary to telegraph or 
write to Mobile that the stern chief of 'the fallen spirits is then and there crying ! The Devil 
himself, the great proto-rebel, cursed, swore, blasphemed beautifully, desperately struggled, 
and made red-hot speeches of uncommon length, when he found himself and his fellow-fiends in 
the hottest of places, but it is nowhere recorded that he pulled out his pocket handkerchief and 
found relief in a fit of weeping. It may be consolatory to the discomfited Bragg to hear that 
Davis sobbed over the catastrophe of Missionary Ridge, but most Generals would have pre- 
ferred the reinforcement of a few regiments. We have only to advise the pseudo-President to 
husband his lachrymal resources, unless, indeed, he fancies that his coming misfortunes will 
be too great to admit of other than the dryest kind of agony." — Tribune, January 12, 1864. 

" Jeff. Davis has just put forth a fresh manifesto to the dupes he is impoverishing, starving, 
and virtually killing, in the course of a Message to his Congress, dated May 2. 

" The bloody-minded villain knows every word of this to be false as though it came direct 
from the Father of Lies; knows that our Government has been hard at work all Winter to effect 
the exchange he professes to desire, and has been baffled by his persistent determination not to 
exchange, and his repeated refusals to give man for man so long as he had one of our men to 
give."— ?Vi6Mn6, ifoy 13, 1864. 

What H. G. knew about the Arrest of Davis Disguised as a Woman. 

"Jefferson Davis is a prisoner of the Government. He surrendered under no capitulation 
but his own, which, he being isolated, disguised in one of his wife's dresses, and directly within 
range of several troopers' revolvers, was too sudden to be otherwise than unconditional. 
Being a prisoner, we trust that he will be trea ted as a prisoner under the protection of the digni ty 
and honor of a self-respecting people. As we are officially assured that he is proved to be incul- 
pated in the plot which culminated in the murder of President Lincoln, we trust he is to be in- 
dicted, arraigned, and tried for that horrid crime against our country and every part of it. We 
hope he may have a fair, open, searching trial, like any other malefactor, and if convicted we 
trust he will be treated just like any other. We have no faith in killing men in cold blood, or 
in hot blood either, unless when (as in battle) they obstinately refuse to get out of the way ; 
but we neither expect nor desire that the execution or non-execution of the laws shall depend 
on their accordance or disagreement with our convictions of sound policy. But let all things 
be done decently and in order." — Tribune, May 15, 1865. 

What H. G. Knew about the Trial of Jefferson Dams in March, 1865. 

" It is now generally proclaimed that Jefferson Davis is to be arraigned and tried for treiiSon 
rather than for assassination, and that to this end a true bill has been found against him by tiie 



About the Rise and Fall of Jefferson Davis. 95 

Grand Jury of Washington City on information lodged by the Government. We reiterate, 
therefore, our suggestion that the Chief Justice should preside at this trial, and that all the 
questions properly involved in the issue shall be raised and formally adjudicated. Jefferson 
Davis in our view, and in that of the Government and loyal people of this Country, was a 
Citizen of the United States after as well as before the alleged secession of Mississippi — did not 
divest himself of the obligations of such citizenship and could not, unless by becoming a Citizen 
of some foreign country, recognized by our Government as such. The assumed Secession of 
Mississippi, her confeder,ation with certain other States claimed to have in like manner seceded, 
and" their combined recognition of a state of war as existing between their Confederacy and the 
Union, were in our view legal nullities, like John Brown's Constitution adopted by his followers 
in a negro church in Canada, under which they inaugurated their hair-brained, disastrous 
Harper's Ferry enterprise." — Tribune, May 26, 1865. 



What H. G. Knew about Mrs. Jefferson Davis in 1865. 

"Mrs. Jefferson Davis {vide her captured letter to her husband) writes in March last, from 
Montgomery, that she ' thought of buying a poor girl who appealed to her, as the wife of the 
President, to take her out of the Tavern.' 'I am so tired,' said the girl, ' of being bought by 
first one negro trader and then another. If you have a little girl, as they say you have, I will 
wait upon her till I die if she will only be good to me.' It does not appear that she was 
bought. Possibly Mrs. President Davis had no money which the 'negro trader' was willing 
to take. What became of the 'poor girl' we may never know. We all know what has become 
of Mrs. Jefferson Davis, and what home her husband has found at last. We have no disposi- 
tion to undervalue the sympathy which this unfoitunate lady professes to have felt, but if the 
mournful tale to which she listened had awakened in her a little righteous indignation at the 
sin and shame of 'negro trading' we should have considered her feelings as somewhat more 
genuine." — Tribune, July 6, 1865. 

WJiat H. G. Knew about Hanging Rebel Chiefs in 1865. 

" If we could see how the hanging of a score or two of those Rebel Chiefs who are not pro- 
tected by a military capitulation would benefit either the Blacks or the Poor Whites of the 
South we might be reconciled to it ; for we regard the enfranchisement and elevation of a race 
as of more consequence than any dozen lives. But it seems to us that hanging men in cold 
blood for no other crime than defeated, broken-down rebellion, is calculated to enshrine them 
in the memory of their followers, to embitter the late rebels against the Union, its supporters 
and its sway, and to prompt them to wreak their hate and vengeance on that class of Unionists 
who are still exposed to their wrath — that is, the just emancipated Blacks. In our judgment, 
the hanging of six rebels, merely as rebels, will cause the death, by privation, famine, or vio- 
lence, of many thousands of Freedmen, and interpose a formidable barrier to the elevation of 
their class to citizenship and a voice in the government of their respective States ; hence we 
are inflexibly opposed to it." — Tribune, June 7, 1865. 



What H. G. Knew about Pardoning Jefferson Davis in October, 1865. 

"To Andrew Johnson, Poor White, and late journeyman tailor, but now President of the 
United States, there appeared on Friday a deputation of the Chivalry of South Carolina, seek- 
ing the pardon of Jefferson Davis, late President of the Southern Confederacy, and certain other 
magnates of that collapsed 'institution.' It was fit that these should thus sue for the pardon 
of their late leaders ; fit (we trust) that the President should incline a gracious ear to their pe- 
tition. But the President was not content with listening. He moved the Previous Question : 
'You ask me for pardons ; I have already liberated on parole a part of those in whose behalf 
you invoke clemencj' ; I will see what can be done as to the rest ; now, let me ask you what 
progress your State is making, or likely to make, in securing to her black people the common 
rights of manhood, but especially the rights to sue and be sued in your Courts, and to give 
testimony therein?' It was a home-thrust, whereat the delegation winced, fluttered, and sud- 
denly grew reserved and diplomatic. They were decidedly more reticent than the plain 
straight-forward Chief Magistrate they had taken quite a long journey to address and consult. 
If either party to that colloquy came off second best it certainly was not Andrew Johnson." — 
Tribune, October 16, 1865. 



Tl^hat H. G. Knew about the Imprisonment of Jefferson Davis in April, 1866. 

" We do not wonder that Mr. Davis's confinement in Fortress Monroe is irksome, but are 
surprised to hear that in other respects it is uuhealthful. We are opposed to any captive dying 
from fault of his prison— we had that objection to Andersonville. A paper published outside 
the walls begs the President, 'if he is unwilling to set his captive free, to at least transfer him to 
some more healthful place of confinement.' We had always regarded Fortress Monroe as a 
well-appointed prison, and, if possible, the most comfortable, certainly the most secure, in the 
Government service."— !ZV»6wrae, April \3, 1866. 

7 



96 What Horace Greeley Knows. 

What H. G. Knew about the Trial of Jefferson Davis on the Uh of June, 1866. 

"Messrs. O'Coaor and Shea, counsel for Jefferson Davis, have gone to Richmond to attend 
the opening there of the TJ. S. Circuit Court this morning ; and it is understood that they in- 
tend to bring the case of their client to trial if possible. If this be denied, they will endeavor 
to procure his liberation on bail. 

" If Mr. Davis is to be tried — as it seems to us he ought to be — we can imagine no reason for 
deferring his trial. If he has been unjustly proclaimed an assassin, he should somehow b^ re- 
lieved from the blasting inculpation. And if he is not to be tried, but is merely held until 
public sentiment will admit of his liberation, we protest against the policy as unworthy. Even 
if the object of his imprisonment were to render him the sole idol of the late Rebels, making 
them forget all his faults in their sympathy for his condition, it has already been fully 
achieved." — Tribune, June 4, 1866. 



a 



What H. G. Knew about Bailing Jefferson Davis in June, 1866. 

' It is reported from Washington that a number of well-known gentlemen stand ready to 
give bail for Jefferson Davis in any required amount, but that the Government are disposed to 
release him, if at all, upon his parole." — Tribune, June 11, 1866. 

What H. G. Kne-uo about the Trial of Jefferson Davis on the 22d of June, 1866. 

" We welcome the news from Fortress Monroe of the assignment of spacious and comfortable 
apartments for the housekeeping of Mr. and Mrs. Jefferson Davis. By-and-by the farce will 
have become too glaring, and then he will be let go. What is the use of persisting in a cheat 
whereby nobody is cheated? Mr. Davis is not to be tried — at all events, not with intent or 
expectation of convicting him. Then why is he longer subsisted at the public cost? Let us 
have an end of the sham !" — Tribune, June 22, 1866. 



What H. G. Knew of the Liberation on Bait of Jefferson Davis. 

" I'he Iowa State Gazette' (Des Moines) says of the bailing of Jefferson Davis that ' almost 
any other man than Horace Greeley, in thus attempting to throw the broad mantle of charity 
over the Rebellian and its most prominent figure, would have been hooted off the stage for his 
ofiBciousness.' It happens that Cornelius Vanderbilt, Gerritt Smith, JohnM. Botts and several 
others also signed the bond in question, and no one — ^not even Wendell Phillips — ever whispered 
a rebuke to one of them for so doing. Will The Gazette reconsider? Horace Greeley wishes no 
one to divide or share his responsibility in the premises." — Tribune, June 17, 1871. 

What H. G. Proposed to Do with Jefferson Davis. 

" When the impeachment of President Johnson was fully resolved on, and there was for some 
weeks a fair prospect that Mr. Wade would soon be President, with a Cabinet of like Radical 
Faith, I suggested to some of the prospective President's next friends that I had Jefferson Davis 
still on my hands, and that, if he were considered a handy thing to have in the house, I might 
turn him over to the new administration for trial at an hour's notice. The suggestion evoked 
no enthusiasm, and I was not encouraged to press it." — Recollections of a Busy Life, page 416. 



What H. G. Knew about Jefferson Davis in November, 1868. 

" Mr. Jefferson Davis has at last found his vocation. He made a bad job of it in ' founding 
a nation,' but he seems to fare better as a popular lecturer. The importance of exploring Je- 
rusalem is the present burden of his song. Likewise the pecular fitness of Englishmen for that 
honorable ' task.' Being thus Orientally inclined, he will next be heard of, we presume, dis- 
4 coursing on ' Dead Sea Fruits.' Possibly, indeed, he may follow that with ' The peculiar 
fitness of Americans (in the Southern States) for their enjoyment.' After this the ' Apple of 
Sodom ;' and then 'The Ten Lost Tribes.' '^ — Tribune, November 27, 1868. 



What H. G. Knew about Jefferson Davis in June, 1870. 

. " We don't expect to see Mr. Jeff. Davis become as hotin his Unionism, on short notice, as he 
was in his rebellion awhile ago. But if his ' lost cause* be really dead, why should he not let 
it be buried out of sight? He delivered a minute's speech a few days ago, in .Memphis, in behalf 
of Sunday Schools ; and in almost every sentence, of the half-dozen sentences of which it was 
composed, he managed to obtrude the Rebel leader and his lost cause in an offensively promi- 
nent manner. His opening sentence was : ' Friends I there was a time when I could sa,y fellow- 
citizens I' As Mr Davis is yet disfranchised, he cannot say 'fellow-citizens;' but as he dis- 
franchised himself some ten years ago, we do not see that he need talk so sadly of his loss. He 
next referred to the ' rising generation,' to whom, said he, ' we must look for the resurrection 
of the buried hopes of the past.' This is treading on dangerous ground, and we really think 
that Mr. Davia is the last man who, under existing circumstances, ought to tread there." — Tri- 
bune, June 30, 1870. 

8 



WHAT HORACE GREELEY KNOWS 

ABOUT 

Fourierism—Free Love — Finance — Lager Beer — Women's Rights — The. 

Public DeU — Colleges and Universities — Gold Gambling — 

American Cooking — Diplomacy — The Army and 

Navy — The Public Debt — General 

Grant' s Administration^ 

dc, &c., (fee. 



WJiat H. G. Knew about Fcurierism in 1844. 

"'The first Vice-President at a Fourierite convention, held at New York in April, 1844, waa 
Horace Greeley, who bad since 1842 devoted a column of The Tribune (ostensibly under the 
editorial GUari,fe of Mr. Brisbane) to the cause of socialism. At the banquet, with which the 
convention was closed, on the anniversary of Fourier's birthday, Mr. Greeley was toasted as 
having ' created the cause on this continent.' He returned his thanks for the eulogium and 
said : 

" ' When I took up this cause, I knew that I went in the teeth of many of my patrons, in the 
teeth of prejudices of the( great mass, in the teeth of religious prejudices, for I confess I had a 
great many more clergymen on my list before than I have now, as I am sorry to say, for had 
they kept on, I think 1 could have done them a little good. [Laughter.] But in the face of all this, 
in the face of constant ad vices, ' Don't have any thing- more to do with that Mr. Brisbane,' I went 
on. ' Oh 1 ' said many of my friends, ' consider your position — consider your influence.' ' Well,' 
said I, ' I shall endeavor to do so, but I must try to do some good in the meantime, or else what 
is the use of the influence.' [Cheers] And thus 1 have gone on, pursuing a manly and at the 
same time a circumspect course, treading wantonly on no man's prejudice, telling on the con- 
trary, universal man, I will defer to your prejudices, as far as I can consistently with duty; 
but when duty leads me, you must excuse my stepping on your corn if it be in the way. 
[Cheers.]" Noyes' History of American Socialism. 



What H. G. was willing to do to Propagate Fourierism in 1845. 

" As one Associationist, who has given his efforts and means freely to the cause, I feel that I 
have a right to speak frankly. I know that the great number of our believers are far from 
wealthy ; yet I know that there is wealth enough in our ranks, if it were hut devoted to it, to 
give an instant and resistless influence to the cause. A few thousand dollars subscribed to the 
stock of each existing Association would, in most cases, extinguish the mortgages on its property, 
provide it with machinery and materials, and render its industry immediately productive and 
profitable. Then manufactuiing invention and skill would fearlessly take up their abode with 
our infant colonies; labor and thrift would flow thither, and a new and brighter era would 
dawn upon them. Fellow Associationists I I shall do whatever 1 can for the promotion of the 
common cause ; to it whatever I have or may hereafter acquire of pecuniary ability is devoted t 
may I not hope alike devotion from you? H. G." — Nbyes' History of American Socialism. 



What H. G. Knew about Fourierism in 1847. 

"This thing association, as I hold and advocate it, is a matter of Practice altogether — the 
simple actualization of the truth of the Universal HiimLin Brotherhood. Christ's Law of Love 
is palpably outraged and contemned in a world of palaces and mud hovels — of famished toil 
and pampered uselessness — of boundless wealth, uselessly hoarded, and helpless infancy dying 
in bitter agony and supplication for ' only three grains of corn.' Let us redress the palpable 
wrongs before us by prompt action, and we will consider theories and speculations at our lei- 
sure. Fourier's idea, that God governs the Universe throughout by attraction — that this is the 
law of life and health for all intelligent beings — is a grind and inspiring one — it may possess 
great practical value when we come fully to understand and Si^-cAy it."— Tribune, March \2, 
1847. 

97—1 



98 WJiat Horace Greeley Knoics 

What H. G. Knew about Fourierism in 1850. • 

" Here, then, is the basis of our demand for the integral and all pervading reform in the cir- 
cumstances and conditions of human existence which we term Association, and in which rests 
my liope of a better day at hand for the down-trodden millions. Association afBrras that every 
child born into the world has a rightful claim upon tlie communitj- around hira for subsistence 
until able to earn for himself an education which shall enable him to earn efficiently as well aa 
rightly to improve and enjoy ; and for opportunity to earn at all times, by honest industry, 
steadily employed and justly remunerated. These it affirms as the Common Rights of Human- 
ity, denied or subverted as to many by our present social arrangements, but which Society 
ought to be and must be so recast as to establish and secure. To short-sighted human impa- 
tience, it now seems deplorable that Philanthropy and Christianity do not instantly rally the 
Influential and the affluent to our aid, and enable us to demonstrate the feasibility of a vast and 
beneficent Social Reform focihwith, but I doubt tiot that those who shall ultimately reap where 
we shall have sown will clearly perceive that the Providential direction was far wiser than our 
haste, and that our rebuffs and disappointments were a part of the necessary agencies whereby 
their success was rendered perfect and enduring." — Ilints at Social Rrform, pages 39-41. 



What H. G. Knew about the adoption of Fourierism in 1862. 

'■Horace Greeley was Treasurer of the Sylvania Association, formed in 1843, and signed a 
declaration of the manner in which it proposed to reconstruct 'the present defective, vice-engen- 
dering, and ruinous system of society, with the wasteful complication of its isolated households.' 
* * ' Having earnestly studied the system of industrial organization and social reform 
propounded by Charles Fourier, and been led to recognize in it a beneficent, expansive, and prac- 
tical plan for the melioration of the condition of man nnd his moral and intellectual elcvaiioij, 
Ihey most heartily' adopted that system as the basis and guide of their operations. The Sylvania 
Association is the first attempt in North America to realize in practice the vast economies, intel- 
lectual advantages and social enjoyments resulting from Fourier's system." — Noyes' History of 
Socialism in America. 



What H. G. Knows about the Marriage Question. 

"Fourier expressly declared, as have his followers after him, that all questions regarding 
Marriage and the relations of the sexrs should be settled by the Ministers of Religion and the 
Women of a nobler and purer era, and that meantime existing institutions should be sustained. 
There are in4iis multifarious writings theories of Cosmogony, of Life in the Sun and various 
Planets, the production of beings on one b}- the influence of other Planets, &c., &c. All these, 
like the kindred reveries of Swedenborg, may be very extravagant and absurd or may not, for 
aught we care. All we know or care is that they form no part of the system of Industrial and 
Household Association, which we confide in and cherish as the only and effectual remedy for 
the ignorance, mifdevelopment, enforced idleness, degradation, wrong, want and misery which 
are now and long have been ihe destiny on earth of a large portion of the Human Race. What- 
ever is essential to this we believe in aud try to promot-^ ; for all beyond it we care nothing, 
whether its author were Fourier or anybody else." — Tribune, July 18, 1846. 

What H. G. Knew about the Gatherings of ihe Free-Love Club. 

"Having read all that has appeared with respect to the breaking up of the gathering at the 
' Free-Love' club on Thursday evening, we conclude from it that the interference of the Police 
was entirely gratuitous and unwarranted. We fear the effect of it will be to excite a sympathy 
for those whose personal rights were violated, which will be insensibly extended to their most 
mistaken and pernicious theories. Unsound opinions are not, as vicious acts are, legitimate 
objects of Police repression ; and if men are to be thrust into prison because of their erroneous 
theories, Ihey are morally certain to gain converts to those theories from the natui'al repugnance 
of mankind to acts of usurpation and oppression. The whole affair looks exceedingly as though 
the Police Captains went to the club expressly to bre.ik it up, and determined tliat an excuse 
should be found or made for the seizure of those persons whose names were calculated to give 
most 6C?a< to the demonstration." — Tribune, October 20, 1855. 

What H. G. Knows about Women's Rights. 

"Mrs. Henry B. Stanton has come out boldly in favor of the wearing of pantaloons 
by vvomeu, and, by consequence, we presume, intends that men shall wear petticoats. 
Thus is it Mrs. Stanton's masculine object that women .shall behave like men ; and we 
doubt not some of them will. But we fear that this most excellent orator will fail of 
her purpose, after all. She declares her design to be to adopt masculine costume as a 
disguise of sex. We beg to assure her that if, over confident, she should herself, witb 
all her historic talent, essay such disguise, the first policeman she met would convince 
her of her mistake. What says the mother of her coantry?— Tribune, July 23, 1869. 



About Fourier ism J Finance, &c. '99 

What H. G. Knows about Victoria Woodhull. 

" For ourselves we toss our hats in air for Woodhull. She has the courage of her opinions I 
She means business. She intends to head a new rebellion, form a new constitution, and begin 
a revolution beside wliich the late war will seem but a bagatelle, if within exactly one year 
from this day and hour of grace her demands be not granted out of hand. Thi^ is a spirit to 
respect, perhaps to fear ; certainly not to be laughed at. Would that the rest of those who bur-, 
den themselves with the enfranchisement of one-half our whole population, now lying in chains 
and slavery, but had her sagacious courage !" — Tribune, May 12, 1871*. 



What H. G. Knows about Polygamy in Utah. 

" After all, the polygamy of Salt Lake Valley is not simply an outgrowth of Mormonism, but 
its existence is due to the imperfect recognition of woman's rights in Christendom. Except in 
this country women cannot be said to have any rights, and even here they are scantily and 
grudgingly acknowledged, save in a few particulars." — Tribune, October 22, 1853. 



What H. G. Knows about the MaiTiage Relation. 

" That the Marriage Relation in the world as it is is frequently and flagrantly tainted by merce- 
nary and other unworthy considerations, we have never heard any man question in private cotH 
versation. That the ^^nrfswcy of our prevailing modeof educating woman, and practically deny- 
ing her any sphere of honorable independence of others' labor, is to this perversion, it seems that 
no reflecting person can doubt. Consider the case of a daughterof a broken merchant, a ruined 
stock-broker or speculator, a turned-out o3]<'e-holder, who has been reared in idleness and luxury, 
and has beauty enough to attract the positive attentions of some single man old as her father is 
and rich as he would like to be. What chance has she — often a mere child — to resist the pa- 
rental importunities, if nothing worse than importunities, to which she will naturally be sub- 
jected? Do we not all know that most unfit marriages are daily taking place in which the vic- 
tim often sacrifices herself to a mistaken sense of duty ? Are not all History, all Literature, all 
Private Life, full of such cases? Admit that Fourier and Brisbane have not presented the true 
remedy, do they not deserve some credit for calling attention earnestly to the evil ? We know 
it is not nearly so prevalent here as in Pranee, which was the country specially regarded by Fou- 
rier, but we know that the evil exists here, and urgently demand a remedy." — Tribune, July 
11, 1846. 



What H. G. Knows about Riding Ne.w Hobbies. 

" It has been urged as an objection to IJie Tribune, that it proposed to ' give hospi- 
tality to every neio tliought. To that profession we sliall be constant, at whatever sacri- 
fice. Full of error, and suffering as the world yet is, we cannot afford to reject unex- 
amined any idea which proposes to improve the Moral, Intellectual, or Social condition 
of mankind. Better incur the trouble of testing and exploding a thousand fallacies 
than, by rejecting, stifle a single beneficent truth. Especially on the vast theme of an 
improved Organization of Industry, so as to secitre constant opportunity and a just re- 
compense to every human being able and willing to labor, we are not and cannot be 
indifferent. Although we cannot devote much space to this or any abstract purpose, 
yet we shall endeavqr to keep our readers apprised of whatever is suggested and what- 
ever shall be done tending to improve the Social condition of the toiling millions of 
mankind. No subject can be more important than this; no improvement more certain 
of attainment. The plans hitherto suggested may all prove abortive ; the experiments 
hitherto set on foot may all come to nought, (as many of them doubtless will;) yet these 
mistakes shall serve to indicate the true means of improvement, and these experiments 
shall bring nearer and nearer the grand consummation which they contemplate. The 
securing of thorough Education, Opportunity, and just Reward to all, cannot be be- 
yond the reach of the Nineteenth Century." — Tribune, May 29, 1845. 



What H. G. Knoivs about the Endowment of Universities. 

" We never objected to the designation of Socialist when it was a term of reproach and op- 
probium. and we adhere to the convictions under which we earnestly fought the battle of abso- 
lutely Free Common Schools for all the children of our State. We assent, with some scruples, 
to the policy of State Normal Schools for the education of Common School Teachers, whose 
qualifications are too generally meager and questionable. There, however, we stop. Free Acad- 
emies and State Universities, for the supply of a gratuitous classic or scientific education to all 
who see fit (and are able) to claim their advantages, are at war with our idea of the legitimate 
functions of Government and with that equality which should pievail in the distribution and 
enjoyment of those blessings. If our city is to be turned into a great Communist establishment 
— for which we consider its population very ill prepared — let us begin with the satisfaction of 

3 



■ 100 W7iat Horace Greeley Knows 

their most urgent and absolute wants before we attempt the satisfaction of those of a more ethe- 
real character. Let us first guarantee to every needy man employment and honest bread before 
we undertake to glut his intellectuul cravings on Greek Tragedies, Hebrew Roots, and Couie 
Sections. In a city where many thous lads of children go to be 1 supperless three months in the 
year because their parents have no worK and no money, it seems a mockery and an insult to 
talk of welcoming all our children to the advantages of a University Education." — Tribune, 
July 8, 1856. 

» ■ " " ■ ' 

What H. G. Knows about Organizations of Foreign-horn Citizens. 

" This foreign, anti-American feeling exhii its itself in various other ways. Even in the mat- 
ter of the military it is obtruded in the grossest manner. If anything ought to be national 
gurely it should be the soldiers of a country ; but here we are provided with Germnn and Irish 
regiments and brigades, as though this country were a poor colony of Ireland and Germany, 
instead of an independent State of its own right. No country but this would permit such a 
glaring departure from the most obvious requirements of national integrity and domestic safety 
as is displayed by these foreign regiments. If the hearts of these men were really in America, 
they would wear no foreign names, badges, or uniforms ; this country's insig nia would be all 
in all to them. Now, we protest against tliis foreign organization ; we protest for the sake of 
the propriety and dignity of the immigrants themselves. If they come to this country merely 
as merchant peddlers or princes, to make the most money in the least time, careless whether 
filth or crime o.verspread the commercial Metropolis — the fewer speeches they make on what- 
ever saint's day the better, as good taste should make them hold their tongues. But if they 
come here to be citizens, good taste, to say the least, should make them keep aloof from all 
anti-American combinations — for any association which is not for us in this country must be 
against us. There is no use of blinking terms or ignoring logic. In any Irish or German 
association — charitable, military, or political — the bond is Irish or German, and not American, 
and therefore it awakes antagonism among all who are Americans simply and wholly." — Tri- 
bune, March 28, 1854. 

What H. G. Knew about German-born Citizens. 

" In former elections, where no question of Temperance or Nativism was in issue, a decided 
majority of our German-born citizens have uniformly voted with the party most favorable to 
Slavery and its Extension — have cast in their lot with Alabama and Georgia instead of Vermont 
and Massachusetts. By the votes of German?, Texas Annexation was carried ; by their votes 
Pierce is now President and the Missouri Eestriction broken down. These are facts of the 
widest and most unquestionable notoriety. 

" Now, it is very little to the purpose to say that the Germans are at heart convinced of the 
injustice and evil of slavery if they act as though they were not. The merchant who says to 
himself, ' Slavery is wrong, but I cannot afford to offend the slaveholders, who are mv best 
customers;' the lawyer who fishes for clients in the same dirty pool ; the priest who stifles the 
voice of humanity in deference to his front pews ; the politician who sells his convictions for an 
ofiSce — tliey, too, would be practical Anti-Slavery men if it dii not cost anything. Wherein, 
then, do they differ from the great body of our German-born citizens? " — Tribune, January 22, 
1856. 



What H. G. Knows about the war of the Orange and Green. 

"Somebody observes that the sects of Donnybrook are never at peace but when they are 
fighting for the sake of peace. Somebody else, we think it was Dr. Mnginn, depicted a body of 
•ekrimraaging' Irishmen 'fighting like devils for conciliation^ and haling each other for the love 
of God.' To say that an annual storm of shillalahs has descended in Ireland, is only to say that 
the battle of Boyne has been celebrated once more on both sides, and with customary spirit. 
We have grown to accept the yearly war of Orange and Green, of Catholics and Protestants, aa 
a sort of peace quarrel and pious feud. It adds nothing to the force of the remark that Ire- 
land is politically discontented, and that Fenianisra is not dead." — Tribune, July 15, 1872. 



WJiat H. G. Knows about the Scotch. 

" It is a very singular fact that while the Scotch claim to be set down as the most religious 
and moral nation in the world, there are more illegitimate children born in Scotland, and there 
is more whiskey drank, in proportion to the population, than in any other country of Europe. 
It appears, from recent returns, that Scotland, with its population of less than three niilliong, 
geneially poor, proverbially cautious, and universally thrifty, consumes whiskey annually to the 
amount of upward of seven millions of gallons, and at a cost, duties included, which has 
reached, of late, the enormous sum of twenty-four millions of dollnrs a year, or eieht dollars a 
bead for every man, woman, and child in the country." — Tribune, September 11, 1858. 

4 



About Fourierism, Finance, &c. 101 

What H. G. Knows about the Naturalization of Aliens. 

"Many Immigrants :ire well fitted to act as citizens before they have re^ided two years among 
us; Gibers do not qualify themselves fittingly in ten or twenty years ; all the Law'c:in do is to 
prescribe such a, probation as shall bs right in the average. This we believe it has doi.e ; and 
we hold obedience to that rule, until modified by Cougress, the clear duly of every Stale and 
community in the Union. The Loco-Foco party in two of the newest Slates — Mi bigan at;! 
Illinois — have extended to Aliens, if one year in the State, the Elective Franchise ; but this is 
■wrong, and cannot be imitated here. An attempt to do it would be defeated, and would tend 
to injure those making it." — Tribune, May 31, 1845. 



What H. G. Knew about the Duties of Adopted Citizens. 

" An American Citizen, no matter where born, should tolerate no appeals to him in any 
other character than that of American cicizen. To regard and address him as a German or 
Irishman, is to imply that he has not really become one of us, and ought not to be so cousidl 
ered. He who votes in our elections as an Irishman or German has no moral right to vote at 
all. There is one other point on which we desire to be clearly understood. We do not believe 
in the assumed right of one set of men to live in idleness out of profits of dram-selling, and 
impose on the non-selling, non-tippling portion of the community the burden of supporting the 
aruukards, paupers, and idiots thence resulting. Nor do we at all accord with those who hold 
that the laws and settled policy of our State, respecting Sunday, may be defied* or derided on 
the naked assumption that -they aie unconsiiiulional. On these and kindred points, we freely 
accord the fullest liberty of opinion and of action, suliject always to our common amenability 
to the l;iws of the land No man is more or less a Republican because he agrees with or differs 
from us ou either or both of these topics. But when any one — German, Irish, or native — set s fit 
to Say to us, 'If you dare to act up./n your convictions respecting Sfli.day, or drani-scl'ing, or 
something else, 1 and my set will renounce and oppose the Republican party,' our ready an- 
swer is, ' If your Republicanism depends on our acting adversely to our conviciions on some 
matter entirely' foreign lo National Politics, you can have very liule to renounce; but, be it 
little or much, you will renounce il just whenever you shall see fit, without affecting our couise 
on the other matter one hair If we must profess what we do not believe, and act as we think 
unconducive to the public good, in order lo secure or retain your co-operalion on another mat- 
ter as to which we agree, the price is more than we can pay, and we must, however reluctantly, 
pursue our journey alone. Much as we desire your fellowship, we cannot consent to [>urchase 
it by a sacrifice of our own earnest convictions ' ' Between us be truth.' If these frank ex- 
planaiioiiS are apropos to nothing actual, they can justly give offence to none. If needed, they 
are not uttered one moment loo soon.' — Tribune, May 8, 1860. 



What H. G. Knows about the Immigrant Population. 
" We have never denied the existence of great provocations to Nativism in this country, 
and unless these can be put aside, we expect to witness occasional outbursts of ami-Foreign 
excitement. Our Immigrant population is deplorably clannish, misguided and nrone lo violence. 
We never saw a partj- of Americans-born approach a peaceable poll with weapons in their 
hands; we have seen Irish bands of two or three hundred, armed with heavy clubs, traversing 
the streets on election day and clearly provoking a fight: we have known such beat a peaceful 
opponent for no fault — twenty falling upon one — until his life was in danger. We have seen 
men taken to courts to be naturalized and put through iihea sheep-washing, when Ihey did not 
know what they swore and were in no condition to take on themselves the solemn responsibiiitiea 
of Citizenship. We have seen the public advertisements of party Naturalization Com- 
mittees offering to grind out voters gratis, in order to swell the votes of their party, and we 
thought Adopted Citizens who are Citizens ought to interfere with this scandalous business, 
. which casts reproach on their whole body ; but they said n' 'l in,;, and seemed to take it quite 
as a matter of course. Yet certainly men who desire ;jnd u:e fitted to become Citizens do not 
need lo be put through in that reckless way." — I'nbune, June 15, 1854. 

What H. G. Knetv about the Freedom of Cuba in 1866. 

" Spanish domination and Slavery — one and inseparable — are doomed to a speedy end in 
Cuba. The world is fully advertised that the Cubans are resolved to be free and to give free- 
dom to the slaves, who, on their island, endure a bondage more complete, though not more 
detested, than their own. The ' Monroe Doctrine ' may not cover the ciise of Cuba, but the uni- 
.versal convictiou of Americans that this conUueut is divinelj' iutemied for the use of those who 
choose to live on it, and not to pamper the firvor'ites of European kings and courts, bears di- 
rectly on the question of her future. We shall be disappointed if ever a Spanish Governor- 
General eats another Christmas dinner in Cuba, unless behind the thick walls and frowning 
batteries of the Moro Castle." — Tribune, July 10. 1866. 

What H G. Knmvs ahmit Honest Talk on Protection. 

"Thus, also, of that greit national obligitiun — the protection of the Productive Labor of 
the Country. We wear no double faces ; we .■•peak with no foiked tongues dark sayings to be 



102 What Horace Greeley Knows 

interpreted in favor of Free Trade or Protection, as circumstances shall require. We advocate 
a Protection of the Industry of tiie Country in all its iinporlaat branches liy a Discrimicating 
Tariff, which shall be so adjusted as to give stability and security to all our tloiiic Interests. 
We reject all that juiglinjjc which wears two faces under one hood, and by a mystical enuncia- 
tion of 'HighTaiiff' and 'Moderate Duties,' 'Revenue Tariff,' ' Ineidental Protection,' and 
the like, or by speakinij on one side and voting ou tlie other, attempts in all its acts to eniliody 
and exemplify the magical union of 'Northern Men with Southern Principles.' We leave all 
this sort of management to those whose unlimited dexterity and uucheckcd flexibility better fit 
thcin 10 pursue it, « hiic we stand frankly, firmly before you, as the advocates of Protection for 
the sake of Protection, and to the free extent of the necessity ou that ground." — Tribune, Sep- 
tember 24, 1842. • 

What H. G. Knows about Horse- Racing. 

"A race-course is the high-change of vice and rowdyism. It is true that respectable 
persons are sometimes found there; but on tlie other hautl convicts who have served 
out their jail term, as well as candidates for the prison autl gallows, gamblers, cheats, 
swindlers, pimps, bullies, and ruffians and villains of everj' degree, find their way to 
the horse-race hy an afBnity as facile as universal. In countries where the masses are 
policed and bayoneted into submission, the race-course is kept in order in the same way 
that Sing Sing prison is; by an oainipreseut autl overwhelming authority. In this 
country, where the people are restive under the over-rule of- the musket or the mace, a 
race-course is a rude carnival where evil triumphs." — Tribune, February 8, 1856. 



"^ What H. G.tKnows about the Bounties Granted to Union Soldiers. 

"Is there ever to be an end of the 'Equalization' of bounties? Mr. Williams, of 
Indiana, introduced in the House yesterday one bounty bill; Mr. Sclienck, of Ohio, an- 
other; Tdr. Perham, of Maine, added a third, and there were two more bills to take money 
out of the Treasury and put it into the pockets of the soldiers. Mr. Schenck said last 
session that he thought the bill he was then engineering w^ould do to begin with. It 
was estimated to take about ,$400,000,000 out of the Treasury. Mr. B.anks said he did 
not care whether it took $400,000,000 or $800,000,000— he was for opening the doors 
and telling the soldiers to help themselves. The natural fruit of this wild talk is the 
present crop of additional bills. We suppose the enthusiasm of these gentlemen will 
stop somewhere, but we fear not till they see the bottom of Uncle Sam's strong box." — 
Tribune, March 12, 1867. 

What H. G. Knows about Naval Reform. 

" To sell out the Navy -yards to the hitrhest bidder, saving only the best one, if any — to burn 
or Iny up undercover all our old and nearly all our large sailing vessels — tostop the appoint- 
ment of any more captains, lieutenants, or midshipmen while there shall be already olhccrs of 
these grades respectively ' waiting orders ' — that is, doing nothing — and to transform our Na- 
tional vessels propelled liy steam into Mail Packets, running on the more or less important 
routes, according to their value or swiftness, allowing them to carry Passengers and Freight 
within their capacity as well as Mails — these are the outlines of a system of Naval Reform 
which would save Five Millior.'^ iier annum to the Tieasury and render the Navy far more use- 
ful than it is." — Tribune, June i . . TR58. 

Wlmt H. G. Knows uliDU,' Men who Love Tobacco. 

" ' Brethren !' said Parson Strong of Hartford, [ireaciiing a Connecticut election sermon in 
high-party times some fifty years ago, ' il has been ch:trfred that I have said every Democrat is 
a horse thief. I never dicl. What i did saw was only that every horse thief is a Democrat, and 
that I can prove !' So I do not say that every smoker or chewer is necessarily a blackguard, 
however steep the proclivity that way ; but show me a genuine blackguard, one of the b'hoys, 
and no raistuke, who is not a lover of tobacco in s;)rue shape, und I will agree to find you two 
vrhite black-birds." — Hints toward Reform, page 359. 



What II. G. Knows .about Democratic Orators. 

"Henry Clay Dean, C. Chauucey Burr, and Montgomery Blair are the principal 
fpeakers for the Democratic p:5rty in New Hampshire. John Quincy Adams tried Jiis 



About Fourierism, Finance, c&c. 103 

What H. G. Knows about the Fusion of Democrats and Republicans. 

" There is an old jest in the law-books of a certain knight whose silk stockings had 
been so ol'ten damaged, that it became a question in Chancery whether they should be 
legally considered the original hose or substantially a diftereut pair. We are reminded 
of this by the thick-flying rumors of the future pious intentions of the venerable Demo- 
cratic party, and of a scheme to weave certain Republican threads into the looped and 
windowed raggedness of this rather shaky organization. The story is, that when the 
National Coiivention meets a great magical wash-pot is to be set up, in which the paity 
will proceed to clean itself of all its old opinions, whims, notions, and traditions, so 
that it can stand before the peojjle bright and regenerated, renewed, and redeemed, 
dirtless and disenthralled! We once heard a judge say that he did not see why trover 
could not be brought for a house, and if the Kepublican platform is to be carried off 
in bulk, we must certainly try to find out some way of getting it back again. Very 
little has lately been said about the abduction and appropriation of Chief Justice 
Chase, but we warn His Honor still to keep upon his guard; and we must extend our 
warning to the entire xldams family, against which we have reason to believe the most 
nefarious designs are entertained. It is curious that the main part of this precious 
seneme should be the capture of a couple of stray Republicans? The touching con- 
fidence which presupposes that Chief Justice Chase is to be had for the asking, would 
not seem to argue a very high opinion of the integrity of human nature; and we really 
do not know why the Democracy should have such an opinion. But the beauty of the 
business is the nomination of an Adams for the Vice-Presidency. We do not know 
what reason they have for thinking that Mr. Charles Fi'ancis Adams would accept their 
nomination for the office — all we have to say is that if he should, the gentleman who 
ran on the Buftalo Platform with Mr. Van Buren would find himself once more in 
rather queer company." — Tribune, May 23, 1868. 



What H. G. Knoivs ahout the Wants of the Jeff. Davis Party. 

"Mr. Jefferson Davis, who certainly knows the Southern Democrats better than either of 
those eminent Northern Leaders, is industriously proving that the party is just what it always 
was, pursuing the s;ime objects now that it pursued ten years ago, holding fast all the old doc- 
trines, and ready for another rebellion whenever the time seems ripe. Mr. Davis for several 
years past has courted a becoming obscurity. But no sooner does Mr. Vallaudigham announce 
his 'New Departure' than the ex-chieftain of the Lost Cause emerges from his retirement, 
makes a triumphal journey through the South, rouses his old followers and tell us iu very 
plain language that the New Departure is all a delusion. Mr. Davis has been so warmly re- 
ceived by the Southern people and so heartily applauded that we cannot help attributing to this 
movement a deep significance. It is a warning to the Northern Democrats that they can ex- 
pect no help from the South unless they fight openly under the old banners. ^ 

" I am not of those who 'accept the situation,' said Mr. Davis at Atlanta; ' I accept nothing. 
I have done nothing that I am sorry for. I shall not abide by the issue of the war. The South 
is only waiting. The cause for which we fought must triumph sooner or later. Our policy is 
to watch the current of events, and when our friends at the North are ready to helj) us we will 
them. They will give us what we want, and we shall put them in power.' 

" What the Davis party wants is of course well understood. The right of any State to break 
up the Union at pleasure is a cardinal doctrine of their creed. ' State sovereignty must be re- 
stored,' exclaims the Rebel ex-President, 'or else the republic of America is a failure.' The 
day is not far distant when the sun will shine upon j-ou as a free, independent, and ' sovereign 
State.' It is true he does not advise an immediate war ; he even professes, as he did in 1861, 
earnestly to desire peace. All he wanted at the outset of the rebellion was ' to be let alone,' 
and that is all he wants now. It is true that he does not counsel armed resistance ; but he is 
kind enough to explain that ' there never was any organization in the South whose purpose 
was resistance to the Government, and by the time he has made a few more speeches we dare 
say he will reach the proposition that there never was any war." — Tribune, May 31, 1871. 



What H. G. Knew in 1844 ahout the Position of a Presidential Candidate. 

" We heartily approve the determination of Mr. Clay, announced by a letter iu this morning's 
Tribune, not to attend, much less address, any meeting while he is a candidate for President. 
Mr. Clay says : 'The election of a Chief Magistrate of a free, great, and enlightened nation is 
one of the gravest and most momentous functions which the People can exercise. It is em- 
phatically, and ought to be exclusively, their own business. Upon the wisdom of their choice 
depends the preservation and soundness of free institutions, and the welfare and prosperity of 
themselves. In making it, they should be free, impartial, and wholly unbiased by the conduct 
of a candidate himself. Not only, in ray opinion, is it his duty to abstain from aU soliciiation, 
direct or indirect, of their suffra^jjes, but he should avoid being voluntarily pfeced iu situations 
to seek, or in which he might be supposed to seek, to influence their judgment. Eutertaiuing 

7 



104 Wliat Horace Greeley Knows 

these views of what becomes a candidate for the exalted ofiBce of President of the United States 
I shall act in strict conformity with them. Hereiifter, and until the pending Prcsidcniial dec- 
tion is decided, I cannot accept nor attend any puhlic meeting- of my fellow-citizens, assembled 
in refetL-uce to that object, to which I may have been or shall be invited. It is my wish and in- 
tentioii, when I leave this city, to return home as quietly and quickly as possible, and, employ- 
ing myself in my private business and affairs, there to await the decision of the Presidential 
election, acquiescing in it, whatever it may be, with the most perfect submission.' " — Tribune, 
May 6, 1844. 

Wliat H. G. knows about the political treason of John Tijler. 

At last "Mr. Tyler stood forth an embittered, implacable enemy of the party which had 
raised him from obscurity and neglect to the pinnacle of power. Men always hate those tliey 
have wrong;ed ; and Mr. Tyler fairly detested those he had betrayed. Before he had been a 
year in power, he was in full, though covert, alliance ^yith the Democrats, and figuring for the 
next Presidential nomination." 



What H. G. Knows about Imperialism. 

" We have never been in less danger of imperialism than we are now. There never was a 
time in the history of our country when the people exercised a more direct control of the Gov- 
ernment, or the force of public opinion was more generally recognized by olir chief executive 
officers. There is abundant infidelity in public trusts, and corruption of private morals; but 
these evils are all bred by long wars and inflated currencies, and time will work a relormaiion. 
The present, Administration has already made a long advance in the direction of public econ- 
omy, and economy is the parent of many other virtues. On the other hand, we were never in 
BO much danger of drifting into an aristocratic form of government as under the rule of the in- 
famous Slave oligarchy of which Mr. Filmore was the facile instrument. The lilierties of our 
country never were seriously threatened, except by the miscalled Democratic party, which, 
unable" to find a vulnerable spot in the Administration of I^resideut Grant, is now trying to 
fiif^hien the people by'the silly cry of 'imperialism.', It is of no use ; Americans have too 
much common sense," — Tribune, June 29, 1869. 



W7iat H. G. Knows ahout Inconsistent Champions of Freedom. 

" It is a lamentable spectacle to see men whose best days of manly maturity and menial power 
were devoted to the cause of freedom departing from consistency in their old days, lo the dis- 
heartening of those upon whom the better example of their early life might exert an insi)iriting 
influence. These painful aberrations cannot be explained on the ground that age ha« a ten- 
dency to chill cnihusiasm for freedom, for we have many exam[)les to the contrary. j\Iust we 
look for the explanation of them in some natural defect of character, developed by circum- 
etances?" — Tribune, September 17, 1867. 

What H. G. Knoivs about Prejerring Tammany to Wood. 

" We have no sympathy, and never can have, with .Mr. Fernando Wood nor any of his be- 
lonf^ings. We regard him as a bad, dangerous man, who has done very much to demoralize 
and'^debauch the political atmosphere of our City. tSince Aaron Curr no man has done more in 
that line. In the long struggle between him and his enemies entrenched in Tammany Hall, our 
partialities h.ave notoriously been against him throughout. And now, if they prove to have 
effectually squelched him at Syracuse, we shall be clad of it, whatever the political conse- 
quences." — Tribune, September 17, 1858. 

What II. G. Knows ahout 'President Grant. 

'• Gen. Grant is as thoroughly a citizen to-day, as perfectly civilian in his habits, as any man 
in the country. VVe think of no one in public stati'in who rtprcsents more fully the idea of 
the American gentleman. Unostentatious, uuassuiiiing, brave ; without ambition, forbearing, 
resolute in doing what he deems to be right, but never offensive in assorting himself, General 
Grant is a man of the people ; one in heart and feeling with the men who dig and plow and 
weave." — I'.-iiMWf, February 13, 1869. 

What H. G. Knows about Grants to Agricultural Colleges. 

" One of the recommendations which the Governor urges in his message is that in favor of a 

Btate grant to aid in the establishment of an Agricultural College. No doubt Ac.tdemies and 

Colleges are valuable aud useful institutions, Inu that is no reas )ii why they should bo aided by 

means of ta-xes imposed on those whose children oauaot b-c odacated by them. There is noth- 

8 



About Fourier ism, Finance, &c. 105 

ing that we view with less complacency thau the anauul donations which the Legislature is in 
the habit uf uiakiag to theiu'. If these iiisiiiuiiouj, many of them sectarian and merely local, 
are tit to exist at ; if they are really required by the respective reiigious denominalioiis and lo- 
caiiiies which ciij.^y tlitir advantai^cs, let them be supported li)y those denominations and by 
the people of ilio^e localilies. Ollurwise, they aie not wanted, and ought ut once to shut up' 
shop and letire from business." — Tribune, January 8, 1856. 



What H. G. Knows ahout the Episcopal Church. 

" The Articles, Liturgy, and other formularies of the Church of England, are a curious jum- 
ble of liomanism and Protestantism, being neither more nor less than an attempt at a compro- 
mise between the antagonistic ideas which lie at the bottom of those two systems, and like the 
attempted compromise here with us, between Freedom and Slavery, it requires constant patch- 
ing and a succcitiun of new compromises — not alwaj'S very honorabje to the Church itself, or 
very creditable to tlie parties concerned in them — to preserve the balance of power Ijctween 
these discordant elements, nor will there ever be peace and harmony in the Church till this idea 
of compromise is ao.mdoned, and one or the other shall have secured a complete and permaneut 
triumph." — Tribune, December 9, 1856. 



What H. G. Knows about the Jesuits. 

"We are not exempt from the curreut prejitdices against the Jesuits, for which His- 
tory, as we read it, affords much jusiiflcatioa. They appear to be a numerous aud able 
body, bound together by secret ties, and animated by a quenchless aud measureless zeal 
for the exteusiou of their church's faith and supremacy. Such a body, so engrossed 
by a single idea, will be very apt to welcome almost anj^ meatis which, to shortsigdled 
human irailty,. would seem calculated to promote their ends, or rather are likely to con- 
sider ulmosE any means laudable which give promise of so doing. It needed no Pascal 
to convince us that the moral code of such a body, in so far as it couteuiplalcs (he 
means of accomplishing or furthering their one great purpose, is not likely to be dis- 
tinguished for its scrupulous uioety." — Tribune^ February 10, 1847. 



What H. G. Knew would Put a Stop to Gold Gambling, But it DidnU. 

"An important bill has passed both Houses of Congress, and will doubtless be s'gned 
by the President forthwith. It aims to lay the ax at the root of the upas of Gold Gam- 
bling. For years past, the partisans of the Rebellion quartered in our city have syste- 
matically and by concert striven ami employed their means to increase the premiuui on 
Gold. Their intercepted letters prove that they did this in behalf of their master, Jefi'. 
Davis, and in the conviction thai, they were aiding the Rebellion as tritly and palpably 
as though they were wielding muskets iu the front ranlv of Lee^s army. A good many, 
of whuui better things were jusily expected, have been lured by Mammon"^ into vying 
with liiem iu their unholy work. These are now fairly warned that their deeds are 
evil — that they have earned the reprobation of Congress— that to persevere in Gold- 
ganibliiitr is to alTrout the majesty of Law. We trust they will be induced to repent 
and ivform; or, if they should not, that they will be made to suffer. The premium on 
Gold may rise slill higher, though we d» not believe it will; but if this la.v is enforced 
and obeyed it will only do so because our inordinate Importations and our inadequate 
Taxaiioa render such a calamity inevitable." — Tribune, June 15, 18t!4. 

[The Act above alluded to, known as the " Greeley Gold Law," was approved by the 
Presiueut on the 17ih of June, 1804. The next diiy the price of gold in Wall street was 
195, aud it rose steadily until on the 29th iast. it had reached 250, and it became neces- 
sary to abolish the cause of this injurious depreciation of the national currency. An 
Act repealiug the Act of June 17 was promptly passed by Congress, and approved July 
2, 18o4.] 

What H. G. Knew about the Income Tax. 

"The Income Tax expires by limitation after one more payment. We heartily re- 
joice at this; for it would be difficult to devise another tax so unequal, so widely evaded, 
or 60 coniiucive to fraud and perjury as this is." — Tribune, July 10, 18G9. 



What H. G. Knows about the Reduction of the National Debt. 

" The fact that the Debt has been steadily and largely reduced has done more than 
anything el^e to make the Administratu)n and the party supporting it strung siiid -(ipu- 
lar. So many millions paid off each mouth are to Gen. Grant's Administration '-viiat 
Union victories on hard-fought fields were to Mr. Lincoln's. No finfin'i'i ' 'ties 



106 W7iat Horace Greeley Knows 

beset a rule which is thus amply supplied with revenue and usin"^ it for such a purpose. 
The fact stated by the Presideist that the annual burden of the Debt is now Seventeen 
Millions less than it was when he was inaugurated is a perfect Vicksburg to his &Mp- 
portevs."— Tribune, Decembers, 1871. 



What If. G Knows about the Financial Honor of the Western States. 

''Clieatuig' is cheating, anjhow you confix it; and the way lUiaois and other Western 
States have treated their creditors would disarace a broken gambler. We never had a penny's 
interest in their Stocks, and so can afford to tell them the truth." — Tribune, January 28, 1851. 



What H. G. Knows about Paying the Public Debt N(W. 

" We protest against transmitting the burden of this vast Debt to future generations. Let 
us resume paying it, and keep on paying lill the last farthing is wiped out. We have already 
repealed a large proportion of our War Taxes. If the Revenue can be honestly collected we 
can soon abolish or reduce others, Biit let us in no case fail to proceed with the regular, sys- 
tematic reduction of our Debt." — Tribune, May IT, 1869. 



What H. G. Knows about our Diploinalic and Civil Service. 

*'We know that our country's need of representation abroad is far greater now than 
in time of peace; we know that Missions and Ccmsulates may justifiably be maintained 
where they were purely ornamental five years ago; yet we'insist that the business is 
both overdone and overpaid. It is very right to have Commissioners in Hayti and 
Liberia; it is monstrous to pay them .$7,500 each in gold (say $10,000 in greenbacks) in 
times of trial and peril like these. One-third of these sums would secure good men 
and would be good pay for the service required. And we think the retention of Min- 
isters Resident at courts like those at B&lgium, Switzerland, Rome, Bolivia, Equador, 
Guatemala, Costa Rica, &c., &c., at a cost of $16,000 (Greenbacks) each per annum, of 
very dubious propriety. That our Indian service. Judicial machinery, Public Land 
System, &c., &c.," are costing more than they need or should is our firm conviction. 
That we might properly consolidate some of our Judicial Districts, (instead of con- 
stantly making more,) shut up many played-out Land-offices, and retrench the hills of 
our Marshals, District Attorneys, &c., by judicious legislation, few who understand 
will deny." — Tribune, February 10, 1865. 



What H. G. Knows should he done with the Post Office Department. 

" We have at various times called attention -to the fact that the Post Office may be sibolished 
and placed in private hands in the same way that Express and forwarding companies are man- 
aged. This subject is capable of demonstration in every detail, as we have already shown its 
chief points. It is one of immediate moment and prophetic grandeur to this reiuiblic, for its 
adoption would be a bold advance on the principle and practice of self-government and an im- 
mense reduction of the powers, patronaae, and prestige of the General Administration. The 
National Post Ofi&ce is the most universally extended as well as the subtle agent of the Federal 
Government. More even than the Custom-House, which is confined to the seaboard, dies the 
party in power render itself felt throughout the entire Confederacy by means of the Post Office. 
Whenever a Postmaster is to be appointed, holding his ofiSce through the profit of the salary or 
that indirectly accruing to his country -store, or even esteeming it for the honor, there is a partisan 
influence at work It is seriouslv worthy of inquiry whether this eminent power of corruption 
shall be left to grow in the hands of the Government, or he promptly taken from the Govern- 
ment and placed in private hands. If thetendeacies of our present Administration are to bccotne 
really Democratic, there would be no d ubt as to the course which must be taken. The whole 
Post Office machinery must be broken down — means of course being allowed for private enter- 
prise and capital to be ready at the moment to take its place. The employment of Postmasters, 
clerks, mail-contractors, and mail-ageuts is now the whole business of the Department; the 
machinery by which the mails are carried — the steamboats and railways, the horses and wagons, 
and, with few exceptions, the Post Offices — are already private things. So the changing of the 
Post OflSce from a political to a private Institution would be easy." — Tribune, August 14, 1864. 



What H. G. Knows Should he Done with our Army and Navy. 

"We hold that our army ought to be reduced to a skeleton, and our navy to a few steam- 
ships and swift sailing vessels, nearly always in commission ; that three-fourths of our present 
Army and Navy officers ought to be given a year's pay ahead, and sent about their priv.ate 
business, while a battalion of Quakers — genuine disciples of George Fox and William Penn — 
should be sent abroad as Eaibasfadors aiid into the wildi-rness as Indian agents to keep the 
peace, and shield our wandering countrymen and borderers from wrong and harm, being 

10 



Ahout Fourierism, Finance, c6c. 107 

empowered to punish them For doing wrong as well. With a government fully imbued with 
the spirit of Peaceful Progiess and Niitional Growth throuuli internal development rather 
supe. ficial expansion, we hold that Twenty millions per annum might, be saved from our present 
aggregate Military and Naval expenditure. — IVibune, January 17, 1859. 



What H. 6r, T/miks of the Moral Atmosphere of Washington City. 

" In the great Northern uprising of 1854 against the Nebraska Iniquity it happened that 
John A. Gurley, of Cincinnati, Ohio, wnsmade a Republican candidate for Congress. Ninv ihe 
said Gurley was (or rail.er had l)eei)) a Universaiisi preacher, so a Democrat of the Methodist 
persuasion thought he could make a point with a good brother who inclined to Republicanism 
by pressing the odium thcologicum against the cai;did:ite aforesaid : 'Do you know,' said he, 
'brother Kinglelub, that this man Gurley don't believe in any hell?' 'Is it possible?' was the 
horrified response: 'Well, (after a pause for reflection,) just send him to Washington for a 
couple of years and he will be convinced there is a hell ; or if not, that tiiere will have to be 
one made; that there is no getting on without it.' " — Tribune, November Q, 1869. 



i.j 



What IT. G. Knows about, the Prosecution of Claims before Congress. 

" I would hardly go so far as a Late Secretary of the Treasury, who, after ten or twelve years' 
service in one House after the other, gave it as his deliberate judgment that it were better that 
claims ou the Government should be conclusively p.issed upon by the inmates of any of our 
State Prisons than by Congress; but my observations tend that way. Whoever has watched 
the daily sittings through even one session must have perceived that. 

"No general interest is manifested in the settlement of claims by the Members. Private bill 
days are always idle days with a large proportion. You will meet them on the Avenue or at 
the Departments ; the House Pos? Office and other snioking-rooius in the Capitol will be full of 
them ; and not more than a hundred on an average will be giving a,uj sort of heed to the char- 
acter of the oills under discussion. Of course accident or private interest goes very/ar in mak- 
the decision."' — Tribune, April 15, 1856. 



W7iat H. G. Knows about Lawyers in Congress or State Legislatures. 

" Undoubtedly the professiou of the law has at present one great advantage over the 
profci^ision of a politician. There ouce was, ages ago, a time when it was considered 
base and detestable for a man to sell for money to the most scandalous of criminals and 
the most impudent of cheats his countenance, his friendship, liis intimacy, the utmost 
eflorts of all his talents, skill and iearniog, to save a villain from the gallows or the 
prison, which his crimes had richly merited, or to enable him to cheat some widow or 
orphan out of their patrimony and livelihood. This romantic and antiquated sentiment 
of decency and self-respect has, however, long since disappeared. For hiwyers to 
league themselves for money with the most consummate of scoundrels, to become, as it 
were, accessories after the fact to the greatest of crimes and villainies by their paid 
labors in shielding the perpetrators from detection and i^unishment, or from being 
obhged to disgorge tlieir dishonest gains — all this has become a regular business trans- 
action, and the lawyer shares the spoils of the murderer and the robber, and pockets 
the fee stained witli the blood and wet witli the tears of some wretched victim of fraud 
or force from whom his client had just before extorted it, with no less satisfactioa than 
he puts into his pocket also the last dollar of the poor deluded victim, who, having 
been plundered or cheated of the greater part of his property by some uu professional 
rogue, spends the miserable remnant of it in the vain aud deceptive pursuit of legal 
redress. No clergyman ever sits in the Briti.sh House of Commons; by some of our 
State Constitutions no clergyman can sit in either branch of the Legislature. It might, 
perhaps, be worth while to consider whether a similar exclusion might not be advan- 
tageously extended to the legal profession." — Tribune, April 14, 1856. 



What H. G. Knows about Mixing Liquors, Be^, and Ale. 

" Mixing liquors increases their malignity, and no one, unless it be the hrutifying abomination 
called Beer or Ale, is so virulent as a medley of three or four varieties or species. For a head- 
ache that will last, a ("old that takes hold of the bones, a rheumatism that will never let up, an 
internal infl.immation ^at needs no medical malpractice to render it fatal, the usual course of 
eating and dritdving on a round of New Year's Calls is the most effectual preparation." — Tri- 
bune, December 30, 1850. 



What H. G. Knows ahout Drinking Wines and Malt Liquors. 

" The difference between Fermented and Distilled liquors is on^ puiely of degree. While the 
different kinds of Beer contain from one-twenir-fifth up to 'm -i^jurieeiuh of alcohol, aud the 

ii 



108 What Ho^-ace Greeley Knoios 

Fermented Gi'ape Wines from one-tenth to one-foiuth, the Distilled Liquors are generally a 
little more than halt' aict)hul. * * *" They greatly mistake who in this couniry hope to 
live longer by drinkinjr Wines or Mall Liquors than they would expect to if addicted instead to 
Dis'iilled Spiriis True there is less Alcohol in the same quantity of the Fern>euted beverages, 
bui the same quantify will 7iol corUen/ tliem. Deceive themselves as they may, it is the Alcoholic 
stimulus that their depraved app tites exact, and if indulged at all, they will be indulged to 
the ci)n- tautly receding point of satisfaction. The single glass of Wine or Beer per daj-, which 
sufficed at the beginning, will soon be enlarged or repeated. It was enough to start the blood 
into a gallop yesterday, but falU short to-day, and wdl not begin to do to-morrow ; and even 
were the fact otherwise the Wines and Malt liquors drank in this country are nearly all so adul- 
terated that drinking them would be foolhardy even if those liquids, when pure, were naturally 
wholesome, instead of being the poisons they are known to be." — Ilints toward Reform, page 
260. 



What H. G. Knows about the Poison in Lager Beer. 

" We Temperance men rest our cause on the simple, scientific truth that Alcohol is essentially 
apoison, and that all substances containing Alcohol ate consequently baleful to the liealthy 
human system. We do not assume that a glass of Lager or of Oider is !S injurious as a glass 
of AVhhky or Gin, because it contains a far less quantity of Alcohol ; but we insist that an 
ounce of alcohol is just as hurtful when diffused through six glasses of Lager as when imbibed 
in two glasses of Rum or Brandy. We perceive therefore no safe ground whereon to dis- 
criminate between one alcoholic beverage and another." — Tribune, May 2, 1871. 



WJiat H. G. Knows about the Enforcement of Sandaij Laws. 

" It rests on that majority of our people who respect the Sabbath to say whether the reform 
which has been effected shall be maintained. Let the New Police be broken down and Wood 
once mure master, and the floodgates of moral ruin will inevitably be re-opened on each return- 
ing iSabbaih. For if he triumphs, it can only be through the favor, the luoney, and the (fforts 
of the liquor men, who will work not for hiin but for themseh'es. They will spend their money 
lavishly in his behalf, but only to have it returned to them with interest. They now profess 
their willingness to obey the huvs respecting the Sabbath, but they will change their tune the 
moment \\vy find themselves triumphant; or rather, the more reckless will sell more and more 
openly, and the more cautious will gradually follow suit, until we shiill have tive thousand 
drunkard factories in full blast every Sabbath."— ^niu/ie, July 29, 1857. 

" We presume all our readers are aware that our City has laws designed to protect the pub- 
lic and private devotions of its citizens from desecration and disturbance on the fir.-t day of the 
week, that l)eing the day set apart for rest and worship by a large majority of our people. 
They know also thai the prosecution of any business in the streets, especilly by outcry or proc- 
lamation, the oijcning of stores, houses of entertainment, &c., are direct and flagrant? viola- 
tions of the:;e laws. 

" And they know, moreover, that the City is constantly paying Salaries to a number of offi- 
cers atipointHd ex[)ressly to enforce these laws. E.ich one of them wh > allows papers to be 
howled, or goods to be displayed, or grog-shops to be open on Sunday within his district, for- 
feits all claim to paynaent, and ought to be discharged immediately." — Tribune, July 15, 1842. 



What H. G. Knows about Distillers. 

" But what shall we think of him. who, labeling under no such fierce goadings of a de- 
praved ap[)eiite, deliberately devotes his best enei-gies to the manufacture or dispensation of tliis 
deadliest enemy of the Human Rice — who makes the creating, ieeding, inflaming of this dread- 
ful propensity to drink the chief business of his life, the means of his subsistence and the source 
of his vve;ilth and enjoyments? Can language adequately portray the horrors of this ni,inu- 
factuie and liafBc? 0, if the distiller or liquor-dcaier could see the long procession of his vic- 
tims stalk by in grim array, each looking him sadly, searchitigly in the face, he would, he 
mzis)! abandon forever a business so horribly desolating I For they are men as we are, and 
could not persist in filling the land with Pauperism, Disease, Strife, Agony, and Murd r, if 
they but realized how luuch of all the evil and woe in the land would disappear forever if an 
end were [lUi, to the use of Inioxiciting L'quors. We know there are some who feel and say 
that their lule is to ' Look out for Number (Jne,' and that others must take care of themselves 
or meet the c tnseque'ices. Alas ! the consequences are not confined fo those who rcl'use to 
take care of themselves ; but wives, children, friends, are involved in the general dev;ist.iiion. 
And nine-tenths of these who make and sell liquor^ have no more ad quite concep'ion of the 
evil and wrong they are doing than had tho,-e who fiited out slavc-shi['S and iirivateer- a cen- 
tury ago. They need to be api)ealed to. reasoned wih, until the depth of the iniqniiy shall 
be made manifest even to the nio-t stolid or siubtiorii, and none shall have the L,i\v'srnunte- 
nance as au excuse for their giiWi," -^Tribune /Jec':mh,r 3'), 1846. 

12 



About Fourierism, Finance, &c. 109 

What H. G. Knows aheut the Judges of the Supreme Court. 

" Three of tbe Judges of the Supreme Court are relics of the old pro- Slavery era, 
when todoulit the divinity of Slavery was to be excluded from office. They v,'ere ap- 
pointed, like Taney, for their fidelity to the man-owning aristocracy of the South, and 
have survived in their places on the tjench without change in their political sentiments, 
while Ihe aristocracy which appointed them has been hurled from power, and shivered 
into a thousand fragments. But they still worship at the ruins of their ancient altars, 
and call those ruins ' the Constitution.' They read the Constitution through the spec- 
tacles of Calhoun, and find its leading idea to be the sovereignty of the Southern States 
over the National Government, and of their ancient aristocracy over the Southern 
States. Two more of the Judges are somewhat mixed in their political views, but their 
antecedents are with the pro-Slavery element." — Tribune, January 18, 1868. 



What H. G. Knows about Encouraging Chinese Emigration. 

" We heartily approve of obeying the laws of the land, whereof our treaties with 
foreign powers are a part. The Burlingame treaty prescribes the treatment to be ac- 
corded to Chinese who come to our country and our people who migrate to or visit 
China. We insist on the faithful observance of that treaty on all hands. If we shall 
exclude and expel Chinese from this country, how can we object to the excluoion and 
expulsion of our Missionaries, traders, &c., from China? How justify our recent raid 
ou Coreans? We believe in the Golden Rule. We hope the effect wf Chinese immi- 
gration on the common laborers of this country will be to render them more diligent, 
persevering, temperate, and frugal than they now are; many of them sadly need amend- 
ment in these respects, and the average Chinaman sets them an excellent example, 
which they will do well to heed. He doesn't waste his time and' means in suicidal 
strikes; he doesn't attempt to kill either the man who chooses not to hire him at his 
own price or him who accepts the work which * John ' sees fit to decline. On the 
whole, it seems to us that every class of our people would be benefited by the presence 
and example of John Chinaman on our soil, and we propose that he shall come if he 
chooses, and stay in peace if he behaves himself. That's all."— Tribune, July 31, 1871. 



What H. G. Knows about Dancing. 

" We trust the tract on dancing which will receive the premium will consider thoroughly 
the suLject; show how and why the popular abomiuatLon of dancing in hot, crowded rooms, 
from fair bed-time to daylight, with a hot and heavy supp3r after midnight, alternating in 
flimsy garments from an atmosphere of frost to one of steam, tricked out for Vanity-Fair, and 
mixed up with all sorts of company, ought to be condemned and shunned, notonly by devout 
christians but by all consideTate human beings." — Tribune, April 16, 1846. 



What H. G. Knew about the Annexation of San Domingo. 

" We believe that the people of San Domingo would be greatly benefited by the annexation 
of the little republic to the United States. VVe believe they think so, or soon will — that annexa- 
tion is their manifest destiny. And we are quite willinsr that our Government shall say, in 
such a fashion as may seem best, that whenever they shall evince a wish to share our future for- 
tunes we will gladly receive them." — Tribune, February 19, 1869. 



What H. G. Knows about American Coolcing. 

"As a general rule, in the country there is nothing fit to eat. First as to breakfast. The Coffee 
is simply slops, though nothing is easier than to make a good cup of coffee. There should be 
very little water to it, and much pure milk or cream to dilute it, of which last items there 
ought to be an overflow in the country. The tea may be generally better than the coffee, but 
it is sufficiently bad and unfit to drink. Then on the breakfast-table there is a chaos of crude 
dishes, when some two or three things at most, well cooked, are ample. The bread is too 
often sodden, the butter too much like tallow ; then there is a mess of tough me;it, greased and 
cooked to the consistency of sole-leather : a general horror of hot cakes, pies, and heaven knows 
what all, sufficient to repel, but not to invite appetite ! If this rampant, multitudinous array 
of a breakfast table came of poverty, we would have nothing to say about it — but it is simply 
the product of ignorance. There is generally an excess on the table, an extract of which excess 
might be, and would be fit to eat if there was anything like discreet preparation of food — but 
there is not. Housewives in the country, take our advice. Buy a cook-book and learn to cook, 
and don't spread your breakfast-table with a chaotic mass of indigestible, repulsive crudities. 
Have little, but have it good — 'a dish to put before a king,' and then it is fit to put before your- 
selves, and not otherwise. Reform your cooking. It is simply savage." — Tribune, November 24, 
1856 

IS 



110 What Horace G.reeley Knoics 

What n. G. Knov:s ahout attempting t» Persuade Slaveholders. 

" I tried more than twenty-five years ago to '(lersuarJe' two'slaveholders that their system 
was unjust aud pernicious, and their reply was an attempt to persuade me off a dock into ihirty 
feet water, whicli I was barely able with help to prevent. Lont; ufcer that, I tried to persuade 
another slaveholder (son oFa life-long negro- trad cr, and now himself a Rebel General) that he 
had made an unfair proposition in Congress, and lie replied by attempting to persuade u hole 
into the top of ray skull, and my brains out through that hole. That is all my personal ex- 
perience on the suliJL-ct; but I have very often been assured (no doubt truly) that if I should 
ever go South and attempt there to persuauc people that Slavery was wroug, I should very soon 
have the breath of life persuaded out of my body." — Tribune, May 8, 1863. 



What H. G. Knows about The Fisheries. 

" Speaking for ourselves only, we may here observe that we regard fishing as capital sport 
but a very unprofitable vocation, and we believe our country would have been this day stronger 
and richer if no Yankee fisher had sailed eastward of the St. John since 1783. If we were 
never again to drop a line for cod or mackerel eastward of the Penobscot, we believe could not 
fail to empljy their time to better purpose." — Tribune, June 4, 1869. 



What H. G. Knows about Begging Offices for His Friends. 

Mr. Greeloy has con^.tantly denoaac^d Olfice-Seakin;^ in The Tribune, declaring that every 
Office Seeker who has failed to get a place is better off than those who have succeeded, as ' there 
is no need of seeking these Custom-House places, or places in the Pojt Uffiee, or the fnternal 
Revenue, if men have only the pluck.' Yet thfi files of the various Departments of the Federal 
Government at Washington contain scores of applications in Mr. Greeley's w^ll-known hand- 
writing, asking that his political or personal friends be appointed to or retained iu office. Some 
of these appointments have been asked from the present Administration on political grounds, 
others to conciliate the German or the Irish vot^s of New York city. In one letter, Mr. Gree- 
ley takes credit to himself for not having made himself ' a chronic nuisance ' at the Bureau, to 
the head of which it was addressed.' although the files show t:mt during that, year (1869) he 
had made or indorsed tea applications for appointments from that very Bureau. Yet the Pub- 
lic has been informed that to the far greater number of our young men a year in jail would 
work less injury than six m )nths in office. 

jVhat H. G. Knows about Gifts made to Great Men. 

" We shall hardly bs accused of any special reg.ird for Mr. Webster by those who know us, 
but we must think this subscription, if comiileted, highly honorable to him and to the liberality 
of the Contributors. ILn'e is a man of mighty intellectual power able to earn a large income in 
the practice of his profession. This ha is required in great part to surrender in devotiug him- 
self to public affairs, for which he is entitled to receive perhaps one-eighth of the sum he could 
make at the Bar. At the same time his very eminence attracts crowds of visitors whom he will 
entertain, subjects him to a vast correspondence and other expenses. If there are wealthy and 
libei'al citizens who, seeing all this, and who, believing that he may be driven from a public 
sphere in which Jiis country needs him to supplj"- the pressing need's of his family, or actuated' 
by a simple sense of justice, choose to contribute and provide a liberal income for his family, 
leaving liim free to follow the path of public duty to which he is called, we sav the circuua- 
stance is honorable to him and to them, and we envy neither the understanding nor the heart 
of the caviler who can find in it ground of reproach to either." — Tribune, March 3, 1845. 

" Mr. Clay, who has not for many years incurred nor owed a debt on his own account, had 
involved himself by indorsing for a relative who became deeply embarrassed and failed. The 
debts came upon Mr. Clay to such an extent that his property must have been swept away to 
pay them. The circumstances came to the knowledge of some of Mr. Clay's Political friends 
and admirers, (few of whom knew him personally,) and they quietly subscribed the sum neces- 
sary to relieve hin from embarrassment. The first intimation he had of it was by the return 
of his canceled notes." — Tribune, May 3, 184!'). 



What H. G. Knows about Gen. Granfs Chances in the Canvass. 

" The record of Gen. Grant is the most glorious chapter of our history. Whatever may be 
his politics, no citizen can be insensible to Grant's merits or the lustre of his name. In know- 
ing Grant we know ourselves. Like Tennyson's great Duke, he stands before us ' great in sav- 
ing common-sense and in simplicity sublime.' The conqueror of Lee is bidden forth to conquer 
Lee's remaining allies; and as the canvass deepens and ripens it will be found, we think, tliat 
our candid ite will win to his standard a large part of the party known as ' War Democrats.' ' ' — 
Tribune, May 25, 18G8. 

14 



About Fouricrism, Finance, &c. Ill 

What H. G. Knew about Gen. Grant and the Gold Gamhlers. 

" The insinuation that the President was in collusion with the Gold Gamblers never had' a 
fact to lift it above the level of audacious calumny, or a motive save the coarsest sensitional- 
ism or clumsy malignity. There was a combination to put gold up. When it assumed dan- 
gerous proportions General Grant interfered and crushed it. Thereupon he is charged with 
having been a member of it ! The country knows its President to be incapable of such con- 
duct. If it did not it would still he able in so plain a case to reason that men are not secretly 
seeking that which they openly, determinedly, and efifectively destroy. Qj their fruits ye shall 
know ihem." — Tribune, October 18, 1869.- 

What H. G. Knows about Gen. Grant's Official Action. 

" We are impelled to say that the treatment of the President and his Administration by the 
self-styled ' independent Republican press' has for months been ungenerous and unjust. We 
have had greater Presidents than Gen. Grant, but scarcely one who less deserved the running 
fire of invidious carping and fault-finding to which he has been subjected by those ' independ-__ 
ent' oracles. We will instance the Sauto Domingo and the Ku-Klux topics to illustrate our' 
meaning. 

" Santo Domingo, through its only rulers, sought our Government, and preferred Annexation. 
The President gave no encouragement, till after an interval of mouths t'ue proffer was renewed, 
and action upon it urgently solicited. Then tha President looked carefully into the matter, and 
decided that our country's well-being would be promoted by our acceptance of Baez's proposi- 
tion. Perhaps this was an error of judgment, though we cannot so regard it. Had he decided 
differently, we believe the President would have been far more vehemently assailed than he has 
JBeen Just consider what a Democratic howl would have gone up if, after we had offered so 
many millions for Cuba. Gen. Grant had refused to accept San Domingt) vii-tual)}' for nothing. 

" Tlieu as to the Ku-Klux legislation, and all Executive action tending thereto or based thereon, 
we hold the Administration most unfairly treated by most of the ■' independents.' Tbe Presi- 
ident is bound by a solemn oath to support the Constitution, enforce the laws, and protect the 
rights and liberties of the People. 

" Such are the convictions that impel us to say, as we fgel, that the ' independent ' press treats 
the Administration harshly, captiouslj', unjustly. We would fain induce its conductors to re- 
consider and modify their course. They may fancy that they are only disparaging aud weaken- 
ing Gen. Grant, but they are in fact undermining and subverting the Republican party." — 
Tribune, May 5, ISU. 



What H'. G\ Knmvs abont the Choice to be Made by the People. 

"It seems almost impossible that the people should hesitate between the leader of the Union 
Armies, Gen. Grant, and the leader of the Northern Demagogues. We must not, however, 
give the enemy strength bj- depreciating him. In a fair canvass before the American people, 
the issues all presented, the platforms discussed, the ])riuciples thoroughly understood, Gen. 
Grant would probably carry nearly every State in the Union. The Democracy, however, may, 
through our apathy, steal a victory which they have not strength to win. The dormant power 
of the rebellion i^ very strong. It is intrepid, eager and audacious in the Rebel States, where 
our main reliance is upon the votes of the freedmen. The negroes have shown themselves 
worthy of confidence, but with their newly-gained privileges they walk as mea who have not 
opened their eyes. They need aid, instruction, and comforting assurances of help. Above all 
things they need to be instructed, so that from reason they may vote, as many of them do now 
from the instincts of self-preservation." — Tribune, July 15, 1868. 



vWkt 



What H. G. Knmos the VW/mteers will do in the Political Campaign. 

" The one circumstance that must weigh heavily against the Democrats in this canvass is 
their substantial identification in sympathy and ideas with the crushed Rebellion. The Volun- 
teers form an element of the canvass not to be despised. They are more than One A'illion to- 
day; they are generally proud of their agency in putting down the Rebellion, and indisposed 
to vote with its partisans. Called to choose between their General-in-Cbicf and a 'Peace' Cop- 
perhead it will be diOlcult for many of them to cast their votes for the latter. We doubt that 
half so many will do so as now, permit themselves to be accounted Democrats. 'Rally round 
the flag ' is stirring exhortation, which few, who have honorable discharges, can withstand." — 
Tribune, April 14, 1868. 

" A stirring address has been issued hy the Convention of the Republican Soldiers and Sail- 
ors to their late comrades-in-arms throughout the country, pointing out the good work which 
has been done by the present Cougress, and urging unanimity and vigor in the forthcoming 
campaign to insure the election of Gen. Grant, that the restoration of an era of peace and pros- 
perity may not be delayed."— ^ViMne, July 3, 1868. 

15 



112 W7iat Horace Greeley Knows. 

What H. G. Knew about the Jove of Union S'ldiers Jor General Grant. 
"Wu suhmit that the preceuce of getting up a Coavreatioa of UaioQ silcliers to opr. 
pose the electiou of Grant surpasses all recognized bounds of partisan inij)ostiire. Not 
that there are uo good soldiers who dislike and oppose him; we know there are such— 
but they are scarce as white blackbirds. The bulk of the soldier vote against Giaut 
will be cast by the Confederate, not Union soldiers— by the men whom he defeated, 
captured, and paroled, and who have personal reasons for preferring such antagonists 
as Buell, Franldin, Fitz John Porter, and McClellan. If Robert E. Lee could be in- 
duced to unite in the anti-Grant call and preside over the Convention when asseml)led, 
he would give it respectability and force; but a Convention of Union soldiers to oppose 
Gen. Grant is too broad a joke for the season. It was wise to hold it in this bounty- 
jumping city, where all sorts of meetings can be got up to order if the proper appliances 
are used; but the honorably discharged Union volunteers are almost solid for Grant, as 
the returns of next November will prove. A Convention in 1787 of Revolutionary sol- 
diers to oppose the election of Gen. Washington to the Presidency, or of the defenders 
of New Orleans in 1828 to defeat the election of Old Hickory, would not have been more 
preposterous than is the attempt in 1868 to muster an army of Union soldiers in oppo- 
sition to the election of Gen. Grant." — Tribune, June 80, 1868; 



What H. G. Knew about Impeachment and the Democracy. 

" rmpeacbtnent is statesmanship — ^justice — peace. The logic of the Republican party brings 
it directly to this issue We should be very glad to view it as merely an impartial and sponta- 
neous work of the Senate. But the Democrats will not permit us. They are the partisans in this 
proceedinii. Tliey tried aitd acquitted President Johnson long before the articles were read to the 
Sanate. They fought Impeachment precisely as they fought war — the Union — Kmancipiition. 
The vote in its favor was as distressing as our victory at Gettysburg. The triumph of Lee would 
have given them the mastery at the polls; the triumph of Johnson would have caused a similiar 
result. All this clamor and cant about the Constitution merely recall the days when Vallan- 
digham moaned over the unconstitutional proceedings of Sheridan in the Valley, aad the ex- 
tremely constitutional adventures of Lee in Virginia. Wlien Beauregard fired his guns upon 
Sumter, he was doing precisely what Johnson did when he 'removed' Mr. Stanton. The ' in- 
tent ' of one was to test the legality of the election of Lincoln. The intent of the other was to 
carry a certain law to the Supreme Court. If we had fought the war as the Democrats desired; 
Mr. Toombs and his negroes would be quartered on Bunker Hill. If we abandon lm[)eachment, 
as they propose, we shall have Sheridan asking pardon for his unlawful proceedings at Winches- 
ter. Loyalty will become a crime. This vindictive, petulant, furtive, bad President, confirmed 
in his illegal assumption of poweu, sustained by a Republican Senate, cheered in his madness 
and ambition, will have the country at his feet, and all its resources the agents of his malice and 
revenge Oh, but, we were told, the men who acquit Mr. Johnson will give us assurance of 
bis penitence and comity ! This is an old story. We have had these assurances before, and 
coming from a man whose word is of no more value than the ashes of his cigar, who trusts no- 
body, and is trusted by uo one, w.e cannot accept them. 

" ' For treason is but trusted like the fox, • 

Who, ne'er so tame, so cherished, and locked up. 
Will have a wild trick of his ancestors.' " 

— Tribune, 3Iay 9, 1868^ 

What H. G. Knows about the Secretary of the Treasury.. 

•'iMr.Boutwell is fortunate in his enemies. -There is no|^n unchanged enemy of the Union — 
not one who wishes Gettysburg and Vicksburg and Appotrfattox had gone the other way — who 
does not improve every opportunity to disparage and belittle his achievements. 'What if he 
has paid off over Two Hundred Millions of the National Debt? the money came into the Treasu- 
ry, and he couldn't help paying debt with it.' Why, gentlemen, money has cume into other 
treasuries, yet no debts have been paid with it unless it be the private debts of iho iijauciers. 
It is something that Mr. Boutwell has vigilantly guarded the Federal Treasury, and applied 
every dime of receipts, first, to the payment of current expenses ; next, to the liquidation of the 
National Debt. 

''Having reduced the principal largely and steadily, Mr. Boutwell is trying hard to reduce the 
interest on what remains unpaid by funding the Five-Twenties, now redeemable and drawing 
six per cent, interest, in new bonds drawing lesser rates of interest. Suppose he could succeed 
in this, and-ieduce the averajre rate of interest barely .one per cent. — 'the amount thus saved 
would pay off the entire principal of the Debt in less than half a century. Ought not every 
patriot to wish him well not merely, but to render him all possible support in his arduous 
nadertaking? Every dime he thus saves inures to the benefit of the whole American People." 
—Tribune, August 23, 18U. 

10 



INDEX. 



Academy, The Military 72 

Adams, John Quincy 25 

Alexandria, Retribution at 67 

Alliances, Political 3, 10, 11, 12, 103 

Annexation of San Domingo 13, 109 

Army and Navy 66, 102, 106 

Aspirations for OflSce 1-16 

Baltimore, Massachusetts Troops in 66 

Beauregard, General 25 

Beer, Lager 108 

Belmont, August 25 

Bennett, James Gordon 26 

Benton, T. H 26 

Bird, Frank W 11 

Black, Jeremiahs 26 

Blair, Jr., Francis P 23, 26, 27 

Blair, Montgomery 27, 84, 102 

Boole, Francis J. A 27 

Bounties to Soldiers 102 

Boutwell, George S 112 

Bowles, Sam 6 

Bright, Jesse D..; 28 

Breckinridge, J. C 28 

Brooks, Erastus . 28 

Brooks. James ,..' 28, 29 

Brown,' B. Grata 13, 23 

Buchanan, James 29 

Bull-Run, Disaster at 71 

Butler, Gen. B. F 72, 85 



Calhoun, John C 29 

Campbell, Lewis D 29, 30 

Cass, Lewis 30 

Catholics, The ; 37, 85, 1Q5 

Cavanaugh, J. M 30 

Chase, Chief Justice 30, 103 

Chinese Emigration 109 

Cincinnati Convention 8, 15 

Citizens, Adopted roo, lOl 

Chiy, Treacnery Towards 4 

Cochrane, John 30,31, 60 

Compromise 61 

Confederacy 85 

Conquest of Peace, by Grant 86 

Cooking, American 109 

Cox, S. S 31 

Cruisers, Confederate 70 

Gushing, Caleb 32 

Davis, Jefferson .<• 32, 89-96, 103 

Davis, Garrett 32 

Delmar, A 33 

Democratic Party ....7, 12, 15, 17, 24, 90, 92 
102, 112 

Diplomatic and Civil Service 106 

Disappointments and Revenges 1 

Distillers 108 

Donnelly, Ignatius 33 

Doolittle, James R 12, 33, 34 

Douglas, Stephen A 34 

DoXj'Peter M 35 



PAGE. 

Editorial Candidates 1-4 

Episcopal Church, The 105 

Etheridge, Emerson 35 

Everett, Edward 35 

Finances, The 105, 106 

Fisheries 110 

Florence, Thomas B 36 

Fourierism 97, 98 

Fowler, J. S , 36 

Free Trade 9 

Germans, The 5, 100, 101 

Gold Gamblers Ill 

Grab-Bag Candidates 9 

Grant, Gen... 16, 82, 83, 86, 87, 110, 111, 112 

Greene, Charles G 37 

Groesbeck, VV. S 38 

Gwin, William M 36 

Hall, A.Oakey 36 

Haskin, John B ; 

Helping His Paper 3, 

Hobbies, Riding New - 99 

Hdffinan, John T , 38 

Horse-Racing , 102 

Hughes, Right Reverend John., 37 

Imperialism 104 

Intervention, Foreign 81 

Irish, The 100, 101 

Jackson, Andrew 38 

Jesuits, The 105 

Johnson, Andrew 39, 88 

Johnson, Reverdy 39 

Journalists, Office-Seeking 1, 3 

Lane, Joseph 40 

Lawyers in Office 107 

Lee, Robert E 87 

Lincoln Administration ..5 79 

Lincoln's War Policy 76 

Lost Cause, The 10 

Loyalty to Party 5,6,9,14, 104 

Lunt, George. , 40 

Malt Liquors 107, 108 

Martial-Law 68, 75 

Marriage Relations 98, 99 

Massachusetts, Bird Faction of, 11 

McClellan, George B 40, 75, 81 

Morrissey, John 40, 41 

Mitchell, John 41 

Mungen, William 42 

National Convention 8 

Negroes, Enlistment of 77 

Niagara Falls, Peace Mission to 83. 84 

Office-Seeking 1-16 



Index — Cont inued. 



Paper Money 76 

Parker, Amasa J ,.. 42 

Paine, Tom 42 

Peace Movements 79, 80 

Peace Mission 83 

Pendleton, George H 42 

Pennsylvania 20 

Pierce, Franklin 42 

Pike, Albert 43 

Political Aspirations 12 

Pope, Gen. John 78 

Postal Reform l06 

Prentice, Georgre D 43 

Pre.-<idential Election 9 

President Lincoln 5 

Protection 12, 20, 52, 101 



Randall, A. W 43 

Reed, William B 44 

Republican Party... 14 

Revenue Reformers 13 

Rice, Henry M 43 

Richmond, Advance upon 68, 69, 70, 7'4, 77 

Richmond, Peace Mission to 84 

Roman Catholics 37, 85, 105 

Rosevelt, Robert B 44 

Ross, E. G 44 

Rymiers, Capt 44 

San Domingo, Annexation 13, 109 

Scarlet Letter to Seward, The 1 

Schell, A 45 

Schurz, Cari 45 

Scotch, The 100 

Secession , 57-64 

Semmes, Raphael 45 

Seward, W. S : 1, 5 

Seymour, Horatio 46, 47 



Seymour, T. II 47 

Slavery, Crusade on ■ 70 

Smith, William 47 

Soldiers, Union 102, 111, 112 

Soldier-President, A 4 

Soldiers, Confederate 87 



PAGE. 

South, The 58, 61, 76,88 

South, Women of the..... ^.... 78 

Southern Commercial Convention 59 

South Carolina, Sentiment of 57, 60 

Squier, E. G 48 

Stanton, Edwin M 48 

Substitutes, Purchasing 82 

Sunday Laws 108 

Supreme Court 109 

Sweeny, Peter R 48 

Tammany 8 

Taney, Chief Justice 48 

Thayer, James S 48 

Thompson, Jacob 49 

Throckmorton, Ex-Gov 49 

Tilton, Theodore 49 

Treason, Political.. 104 

Trumbull, Lyman 50 

Tweed, William M 50, 51 

Tyler, John 51, 104 

Union, Dissolving the 57 

Universities and Colleges 99, 104 

Vallandigham, C. L 53 

Vanity, Editorial 3 

Volunteers, Union 102, 111, 112 

Wanting to be President 6, 7, 9, 14, 15 

War 65, 76, 82 

War-Cry, The Tribune's 70 

Vi^ebster, Daniel % 51 

Welles, Gideon 51 

Wells, David A 51, 52 

Wickliffe, Charles A 52 

Wilkes, George 52 

Wilson, Henry, Reply to Davis 90 

Women's Rights 98, 99 

Wood, Benjamin 53 

Wood, Fernando 54, 55, 56 

Woodhull, Victoria 99 

Woodward, George W 53 

Wright, .Silas t... 56 



LEAp'JI 



7^ 



